Ototex Electrical Works — Electrical Store for the Local Community

Rural Invasion in Uyo, Africa 01

One thing that stands out about Ototex Electrical Works is that they are different from other classic electrical stores. Many advised me to check out beautiful places in town for my reviews. But if I continue putting up with those business places in towns, what about those in rural areas or in a local community? Will they be in the dark because I choose not to stoop low to their low-budget facilities and limited equipment? No

That's why I'm here, placing this electrical store in my locality on the Steem-atlas map. I've started my journey already into bringing local business places to the spotlight, and this is one of them.

Location

This place is located along Airport Rd, Uyo, beside Ghitto Road, Oron Rd, Uyo. You can access this place by checking your right for lines of shops before Ghitto Road if you're coming from Ibiaku or Airport Road. But if you're coming from Oron Rd, Ifa Atai axis, you'll have to check your left, and the vehicle will alight you at a soft spot for you to cross over to the electrical store. It's actually a long-standing electrical store. How do we know? The flex and buildings can tell.

Brief History/About

The manager wasn't there to ask a few things. It was just an apprentice who was brought into the shop some months ago. From my knowledge of the place, though I don't used to enter, it's been in existence for 10 years plus if I'm not mistaken. It has this history of being helpful to most electricians who work at sites in that area instead of paying a huge amount of money on transportation to stores that are far from their sites. The 10 years of existence is reflected in its faded flex or banner, as you can see.

Exterior

Local stores like this don't really have enough parking space for vehicles, as they're not supermarkets or market squares. In Uyo, people barely drive to buy electrical materials for installation. Most of these purchasers are electricians who want to use these tools for work. Since it's close by, people just walk up to the place, get enough materials and then shatter a vehicle to convey these materials if there are more than enough to handle with the hands.

It has a banner or flex on top of its section since it's colliding with lots of shops. The banner has the name of the manager, who integrated this to fit his business as the owner and manager as well. The walls are dilapidated, though still in shape. It's covered in blue and white, as the flex or banner has blue text which prints the name of the business. So I may say that the owner just decided to make it blend.

At the entrance of this electrical store, there's a protector or iron bar gate that prevents theft or robbery at night. This kind of gate is very difficult to break or saw down, as the material is made from thick metals. It's covered in white. The entrance of the store is just by the roadside, and you get to see some hardware materials like

• ladder

• pipes

• coats for wires, etc.

These are commonly used materials in electrical installation; that's why they're kept outside for visibility, and the length as well is sometimes the problem. Most electrical stores don't take it in. They use chains to lock it outside when the store is closed.

Interior

The interior is also covered with white and blue paint, which makes it even more outstanding, as it should be. The ceiling is PVP made. The small space for customers to sit while waiting for their materials to be packaged is painted blue and white, while the place where these materials are kept is covered with white paint.

The interior has a transparent aluminium glass door entrance that can be rolled to the left and to the right to access the main shop where the materials are kept. The floors are tiled with sand tiles that make it difficult to decipher if there's tile on the floor or if it's just normal ground. The store has shelves made of visible plywood, covered with metal for hanging some materials.

_{interior entrance}

These shelves contain a lot of electrical materials for different purposes, which I'll relate in the next subheading. One visible thing you'll see when entering this shop is their bulb board, where bulbs are placed and tested for customers. It also serves as an advertisement for people to visit the store. They run solar, as they don't use a generator for lighting.

_interior

Facilities

This type of shop or store doesn't have more than 2 facilities because it's a rented space, not one that's built by the individual who can decide to create a warehouse for heavy materials and a space for payment of materials. A few spaces are stated below. It's not as if it's a facility. It's just a space different from others.

• Seating area_: This seating area is more like a lobby space where guests who come to buy materials sit down. There are two short benches in this lobby because of space. To avoid overcrowding the shop, the bench is kept here.

_{seating area for customers}

• The Manager's Space: The manager has a desk to attend to his customers, make budgets, check expenses and do other things. This space consists of a table and a chair, all made of wooden materials. On the right, we can see another table. This one is for the apprentice to sit on when both the manager and the apprentice are in the shop.

_{the manager's space}

• The shelves area: The shelves are classified into three sections. We have left, right and center, all of which materials are placed on. Let's start with the right side.

• _The right-hand-side shelf: This shelf has three steps. The first steps houses materials like

• solar flood light

• load centers

• standing fan
  _{load centers shelf}

• bulbs of different kinds in packets
• tape lights
• plasma TV hanger
• chandelier bulbs hanger.
• lamp holder for bulbs.
• switch sockets

_{bulbs, switches and sockets section}

• electrical junction boxes
• glass bulbs
• cables
• solar lamp stands

_{picture of right shelf, electrical junction boxes shelf}

Center shelf: This shelf is behind the manager's seat area. This is represented with a large board behind his back which houses bulbs that are lit when the solar is turned on. Beside it, is a long shelf that houses.

These includes;

• extension sockets
• steel electrical junction boxes
• chains and tyre tubes for the first and second steps.

_{picture of steel electrical junction boxes shelf}

Left shelf: This consist of some hardware materials aside from electricals. These includes

• fuse
• gum
• fan holders
• nails
• knock-out sockets

fuse section	gum section

_{knock-out boxes section}

_{Hardware materials}

Cleanliness and quality of product service

Even though it's an old place, they sell quality products and render quality service. The shop is always clean and can never be caught dirty. If on a rainy day customers make a mess of the place, the apprentice will do the needful since it's tiles. The bulbs and sockets are of good quality, as they do sell off very fast in the local community.

Mode of payment

In this electrical store, they accept transfers and cash payments. They also have a POS machine for card withdrawal in case customers come with their cards. These are the only two modes of payment they accept that I'm aware of.

Product Availability

Basic electricals are available in this store, electrical materials people do use often. You go to town to buy complex materials. Since it's in the local material, the manager is tempted to stock those complex materials without gaining patronage.

Affordability of these materials

The materials are quite affordable; that's how they're purchased in town except in a company or warehouse. These are some materials and their prices. If you're into electricals, you'll know that the prices are fair and fair enough for people in the location his shop is at.

One pack of electrical junction box	4600 naira	26 steems
One full pack of tape lights	2000	11
Knock-out boxes	300 per 1	1.7 steems

The price of steem was $0.121 as of the time of making this calculations. Dated 9th October, 2025.

If you're an electrician looking for quality materials at an affordable rate, try checking out this place. They do discounts as well so as not to chase their customers. Prices are negotiable.

Type of place	Electrical Store
Name of place	Ototex Electrical Works
Location	Google Maps
Steem-atlas	[//]:# (!steematlas 4.96873264 lat 7.99557388 long Ototex Electrical Works d3scr)
Address	Beside Ghitto
Opening Hour	8Am
Closing Hour	9pm
Gate fee	Free
Parking lots	Yes, but not spacious
On the Street	Yes
Website	Not applicable