Furnishing a new home, part 1

While I was waiting for the paperwork to be processed on my house here in Brazil I decided that I would go ahead and start buying furnishings and other things I would need. However these aren't available in the town I live in, and at the time I didn't know what availability was like locally so I decided to look in Salvador, some 400 kms away, while I was there trying to buy a car. I had quite a lot of belongings in storage in the UK (including a washing machine and tumble drier, but until I could get permanent residence I couldn't ship them to Brazil), so I decided to buy cheap household items like pots and pans and cutlery etc. 
Salvador is a major city of some 3 million inhabitants, as well as being the state capital of Bahia, so is well supplied with shops. I did some research online to compare prices as well as checking for stores that had good national coverage, so were likely to have a good distribution network.
The first store I went into, armed with an extensive list (including items like a fridge and cooker, and even a kitchen as houses here do not have fitted kitchens!), I was instantly approached by a member of staff offering assistance. "Hi, do you deliver to the Chapada Diamantina?", "Yes, of course", so I told them I would wander round, make my selections and then find them to place the order (they get commission for helping). I took down product codes and prices, and was making my way through the list when another member of staff approached. I was about to explain that I was already being helped, when they asked if I had nearly finished as they were about to shut! It was Saturday and this particular store closed at lunchtime - most are open all day Saturday as well as all day Sunday, but I had picked one that closed! They directed me to another, much larger store nearby that remained open.
I asked the same question about delivery, and they asked someone else who confirmed that they did deliver to my area, so I set off again. I had a slight problem choosing mattresses as they have a number rating system - based on the weight the mattress is rated to support - so needed help selecting the appropriate one, and wasn't too insulted when they pointed out the heaviest rating for mine! 
I finally found all I wanted and went to the order desk where they started checking things on the system. Half of the things I had chosen, based on what was on display, were unavailable, and they had no idea when next delivery would be - so I then went again and selected alternatives, which they checked as I went round and finally I had a complete list which they started processing. However when I gave the delivery address as Chapada Diamantina they told me they didn't deliver that far!! I pointed out, rather angrily, that before I started I had asked and it had been confirmed that they did - so they went looking for a supervisor who confirmed that they did not deliver here. By then I had spend around 5 hours in total in their stores so called it a day.
The following day, Sunday, the stores open later so at 11.00am I arrived at a different store - same question about delivery and same confirmation that they did to my area, but an hour into my selecting items they found me and told me apologetically that they didn't deliver that far, even if I offered to pay for it, though they did suggest they could find me a local transport company who could help! I declined and gave up the idea of finding my furnishings in Salvador, though I did manage to buy all the smaller items, including bedding and pillowcases. That also was not without incident as I filled a shopping cart with goods, as well as a couple of additional bags - and they wouldn't let me take the cart to the carpark as it was "against store policy for the carts to leave the store"! A security guard watched over my things as I had to make two trips to my car!
(This will be continued in Part 2)