Mattai (supermarkets)

Mattai (Iradi Mattai dükönü; Russian: Маттай) is a grocery chain in Iyık Janyl, founded in 1999 by Yakob Moldosh uulu, a former manager of a Soviet state food store, and named after St. Mattai. It has eleven shops, five on Cathedral Hill, four in the Lower Town and two in Tash-Kömür, and about 120 staff; in Iyık Janyl it has more shops than Jıldız Market, though fewer than Bereke.^[1]

Its shops sell local walnuts, apricots and cheese alongside goods from Talas and Kazakhstan, stock fasting food on Wednesdays, Fridays and through the Great Fast, and stay closed on Sunday mornings until the liturgy ends at noon. Most sales are in cash, and regular customers can buy on credit recorded in a book.^[1]

References

1. ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2026). Commercial Directory of the Irad Special Economic Zone, 2026 edition. Talas.