Plotnikov’s Shop, the largest grocery in the town, is a well-stocked merchant establishment that briefly anchors Mitya’s hurried preparations for departure. Its scale and prosperity are set against the speed of his visit: provisions are packed, a cart waits outside, and a substantial bill is settled in cash before he rushes away. The shop’s ordinary commercial routine makes his sudden, extravagant movement through town concrete and visible.

Setting and Character

Plotnikov’s Shop stands at a street corner, two doors from Pyotr Ilyitch’s establishment. It belongs to wealthy merchants and is described as the town’s largest grocery, with a broad range of goods. The business is flourishing, and customers continue to buy from it in numbers. It is not a marginal or improvised store but an established commercial center, capable of supplying a substantial journey at short notice.

Mitya’s Return

The staff await Mitya eagerly because they remember his earlier visit, three or four weeks before, when he bought wine and assorted goods worth several hundred roubles and paid cash. That recent purchase has made him a recognizable and memorable customer. His return therefore brings both anticipation and a practical expectation: the shopkeepers have reason to think he will spend freely again.

When Mitya and Pyotr Ilyitch arrive, Andrey is already waiting at the entrance with a cart drawn by three horses harnessed abreast and fitted with bells. Inside, the shop has nearly finished packing a box of provisions. The workers are waiting only for Mitya to arrive so they can nail the box shut and load it onto the cart. The preparations are so far advanced that Pyotr Ilyitch is astonished; the shop is not merely a place Mitya visits, but part of a departure already set in motion.

Payment and Departure

A clerk calls Mitya back to settle the small bill. Mitya acknowledges it, takes out his bundle of notes, selects three hundred roubles, throws them onto the counter, and hurries out. The moment joins routine accounting to visible extravagance: the bill is called small, yet the payment is a large sum, made abruptly and without lingering over the transaction.

The people in the shop follow Mitya outside, bowing and wishing him good luck. Andrey, coughing after drinking brandy, climbs onto the box. The packed provisions, waiting horses, and departing driver make the shop’s role in Mitya’s journey tangible. It supplies what he needs and releases him into motion, while the staff’s courteous farewell marks the visit as a public scene rather than a private transaction.

Narrative Significance

The shop brings together Mitya’s restless urgency and his conspicuous use of money in a setting governed by ordinary exchange. His earlier cash purchases explain why the merchants remember him; the packed provisions and waiting cart show that his new departure has been anticipated and prepared; the hurried three-hundred-rouble payment completes the encounter before he is gone again. Plotnikov’s Shop thus serves as a practical threshold between town and road, revealing the material arrangements behind Mitya’s headlong movement without turning the commercial stop into a scene of deliberation.