The location of the store is under a gymnastics center. This is very telling for two reasons: Shanghai is a complete conglomeration of buildings/structures and functions, very much like NYC; and yes, gymnastics is popular in China.
Inside, the store was pretty chaotic. Much like any other store, you grab a cart and walk down the organized aisles. Good luck finding these easily noticeable items in Wal-Mart though:
- Lays Potato Chips: Italian Red Meat flavor
- Pigs feet
- Whole chickens
- Cow's stomach
- A meat/poulry section that's not behind glass, and open to all consumers to pick through
And that's just the food. This store also has a Sports-Authority-like section, a section of scooters, a Toys-'R-Us-like section and an electronics section, among others. One interesting note about the electronics section is that it's really easy to buy cell phones here. You can just walk up to the counter, buy a phone, and immediately connect to the China Mobile network, which is a state-run monopoly of the cell phone service. Verizon service works here too, by the way.
That leads me to two of my favorite things about being in China.
First, the knock-offs. Fake iPod. Fake Wii. If it's popular, there's a fake-out-China version.
Second, the exchange rate and pricing. The exchange rate here is roughly 7-to-1, and on top of that, among the small sample of items I've seen, prices are roughly 20-40 percent cheaper than in the U.S. ... even after adjusting for the exchange rate.
Sweet.
