oregonknl Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 So Fei and I make our way from her parent's apartment in YueYang, down to the Hunan capital in Changsha .... the goal was to see the places that Mao studied, and the place of his birth in WuLingYuan.... least that was the excuse..... Checked into the very nice (and affordable) Grand Sun City Hotel.. Never made it to WuLingYuan, but did have a nice view of the mountain retreat where he studied --- from the hotel ---- (during the evening after the smog cleared). Instead, in our free time, we headed to the walking plaza to look for cheap clothes, and at the far end of the plaza ...... WalMart~! Which occupied the second two stories of a larger building... Had to check this out.. And expected some kind of cookie-cutter American transplant like McDonalds, or QFC -----nothing could be further from the truth!!! Sam Wal (or his team) have obviously given the China operation wide lattitude! 1. Greeters direct you to a locker ---- no personal items allowwed in the store. 1 yuan coin gets you the key to the locker --- refunded when leave the store. 2. Enter to an environment that is a very strange hybrid of WalMart! All the workers still wear exactly the same blue vests and smily faces --- but language is Mandarin for the most part... There are product introductions just like in department stores all over China, lots of showmenship --- still wearing the WalMart vest! Almost no product in China that you would see in the US --- everything on the shelves is different! Go into the food section ---- lucky to find an American product ---- but plenty of live turtles, frogs and snakes!! --- cut meat same story ---- exotic to put it politely... Then up stairs to check out kids clothes --- good prices, but surprised to see not that great of a selection ---- found some good deals on underwear and socks... ---Kim Link to comment
Jeikun Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Didn't get to check out the Wal-Mart in Beijing. I knew it was there, but it was pretty far down my list. I did however shop at Wu-Mart. Little convenience store near Jun's apartment complex. Link to comment
tonado Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 It makes good sense to have Wal-mart in China. All the products are made in China. When I was in HK 2 years ago, my relative's husband gave me his business card. He is a director at Wal-Mart. He is responsible for opening new stores in China. When I was there, we talked about Sams store in China. Sams stores are owned by Wal-Mart. I told him I enjoy sampling food there (the stores in America). He said the ones in China have more variety for sampling. I can't wait to visit one of those stores in China. Link to comment
warpedbored Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 I took Bing to a Wallmart here in Portland. She said it is nothing like the one in Nanning. When I told her that things at Wallmart are cheap she responded that in Nanning "Wallmart no cheap" Link to comment
Bobby Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Upon my first visit to ShenZhen, I insisted seeing the WalMart there. It struck me as kind of dumpy. Its underground, has a low ceiling and reminded me of a Big Lots (or large Family Dollar) here in the states. It was the only place I went in China where they didn't accpet a 1 RMB coin that I gave them (after buying an apple ).. On our way somewhere (LongGang? GuangZhou?) we did pass another WalMart that looked like one of these multi-storey behemoths that you wrote about. I didn't get to visit it, though . There's a line of department/grocery stores in ShenZhen that has a giant green 'K' in its logo, IIRC, that I enjoyed visiting. They were clean, nice, and had a good variety. I thought the tiny little shopping carts were cool too.. Link to comment
sylinchinastill Posted August 2, 2004 Report Share Posted August 2, 2004 I used to live on top of the Walmart in Shenzhen- I'm sure there are more than one- but this one is in the middle of town- kind of underground too. Link to comment
skibum Posted August 2, 2004 Report Share Posted August 2, 2004 My father-in-law spends hours cruising the aisles at the new store in down town Nanjing. Don't know if he buys anything.I was in one in Kunming and it was so-so. Much rather shop at Carefor (sp) Link to comment
Jeikun Posted August 3, 2004 Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 My father-in-law spends hours cruising the aisles at the new store in down town Nanjing. Don't know if he buys anything.I was in one in Kunming and it was so-so. Much rather shop at Carefor (sp)I don't remember how to spell it either, but that was an awesome store!! I could have wandered around in there all day Link to comment
warpedbored Posted August 3, 2004 Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 I don't know how to spell it either but Mark took me to one in Shenzhen. very cool store. I believe they are a French chain. Link to comment
Jeikun Posted August 3, 2004 Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 I don't know how to spell it either but Mark took me to one in Shenzhen. very cool store. I believe they are a French chain.You're right!! I remember Jun telling me that now Link to comment
Guest blsqueaky Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 I have to say that I also have not visited one there. I took Ling to the one here, and she found that alot of the items that she bought before comming here, she could have waited and bought them here, cheaper. Now there where some other stores there that I enjoyed much, and wished that they could have them here. I remember being told once long time ago that in the Wal-Mart there, you will not find any american product. Not sure if this is true now or not. Link to comment
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