This post is going cover just about every category.
One the way back from dim sum (see older post), I noticed Sam’s Club. There was a line cars waiting to get into the parking lot. Dickson’s mom said that she and her friend had just got a friend/family membership together. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we decide to give it a try.
Walmart is not new to China, it’s been hear for over a decade. This latest addition of the Walmart China invasion was opened in late October. It is the first Walmart in Guangzhou. Walmart now has 163rd in China, about double in the number of the stores from a couple of year ago. Much of the rapid expansion was achieve through the acquisition of Trust-Mart for $1 Billion in 2006.
The roof is for additional parking. The warehouse is split into TWO floors, kind of like a typical IKEA. The first floor is mostly electronics, e.g. TVs, computers, blenders, hot pots, and wash machines. At first glance its not very different from any Sam’s Club in the States. Then you notice the giant Panasonic Plasma TV for sale, the Bose store, and a long row of laptop computers. A long angled moving side walk takes the shoppers and their carts up to the second floor. The second floor is where you really know you are not in Arkansas anymore.
Gone are the giant frozen food section. The freezers are still there, but much reduced. In their place is giant fish tanks of live sea food, where shoppers can net their own fish from the tanks. When Walmart first opened in China, it managed to offend the shopper by offering dead fish packed in Styrofoam and cellophane.
In is also racks of roast ducks and bbq pork, cut to order. In addition to pizza by the slice is braised beef tendons with rice and vegetables. The free samples are still there: tea, quick prep curry with rice, duck gizzards, Chinese pickle vegetables, and instant noodles. Pork out numbered beef. There’s more choices of pork than I knew what to do! There’s organic, free range, different local breed of different colors.
In the past Walmart had lost hundred of millions of dollar in its international operations, however it appears that the lessons have been learned.
