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SHOPPING in SHANGHAI
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Most people, when they travel, go to visit mountains, lakes, and beaches. Many of course enjoy a good round of golf while some people much prefer a day of `round a' round'.

`Round a' round' is my personal name for walking from store to store, up one street and down another and from one end of a mall to the other, without actually buying anything, just looking and comparing prices and quality.

Round a' round in modern Shanghai is no different than in any other city. While there are still government stores where some of the citizens believe they get better quality and better prices there are thousands of private stores where you can buy anything from a roll of lifesavers to a Lexus.

In central PuDong, a district of Shanghai, is the Lotus Supercenter, a supermarket much like a large IGA or Buy Low. The main floor is filled with shelves and displays and checkout counters. The checkouts are designed similar to the express lanes at the Real Canadian Super Store where they have two small check outs in one lane except that they had four in each lane. There were over ten lanes, more than forty-four check stands.

There was also a long stairless escalator like the type used in Metrotown in Burnaby, the ribbed kind, so that specially designed shopping carts can't run away and hurt someone. Upstairs a second floor is similar to Zellers or Woolworths; clothing, electronics, toys, etc.

Outside of the market, along the sidewalk were many vendors, their goods spread on blankets. It reminded me of shopping at the large flea market on Terminal ave. in Vancouver. When you go in there are many street vendors, when you come out they are all gone. The police having ticketed them for selling without a license.

WAL*MART . COM Anything, and Everything, On-line Yes, there is a Wal*Mart in Shanghai.

When we came out of the Lotus Supercenter the police were just arriving. The vendors were quickly picking up the corners of their blankets, slinging the bundles of their goods over their shoulders, and quickly departing.

The Lotus Supercenter, many businesses, have their name up in English. (Actually it is not English but Pinyin. It can be very confusing as some times they spell a name as two words and sometimes as one. Such as Wu Xie or Wuxie. And don't expect to pronounce it the way it is spelled. Although that is the purpose of Pinyin. If you were to ask five different people, you are likely to come up with five different pronunciations.)

NanJing Lu Dong is a major shopping area in Shanghai. Much of the street is, like Granville St. in Vancouver, closed to traffic. Unlike Granville St. even busses and taxis are excluded. Instead, they have a miniature train that will carry passengers down the middle of the thoroughfare.

All along NanJing Lu are lighted Pepsi Cola signs, like Xmas decorations on alternating street poles, on both sides of the street, for an entire two blocks. The humorous part of it was that if one stood in the middle of the street, between, and above, all the Pepsi signs, was a Coca Cola sign.

Nearly everywhere you look there is a Pepsi advertisement, to the point where it becomes a blight on the scenery.

Another common Canadian sign is that of KFC. Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets are very popular in Shanghai.

In China, I saw very few panhandlers but was accosted, a couple of times, by men, in suits and ties, trying to sell me, what they guaranteed were 100% genuine, Rolex watches.

I was never much for jewellery and I most certainly would never waste money on a watch in this day and age of quartz electric watches that keep excellent time and retail, in Canada, for $7.95. But a couple of weeks later I did pay twice that for a Rolex at a stand in a market. By then I was so used to the low prices in China that I figured paying twice as much as I would at home was worth it just for the souvenir.

The asking price was Y380, punched into a large calculator so I could read the numbers. When I shook my head `no', they, a father and daughter team, handed me the calculator with the numbers erased. I punched in Y80. They screeched and punched in Y280. I cleared the screen and punched in Y110. They came back with what they said was a final offer of Y150. I cleared the screen and came up to Y120. Again they came back with what they said was a final offer, Y130. I changed it to Y125 but they held firm at Y130.

I later went into a jewellery store and compared the watch to a Rolex submariner, which is what it says on the one I bought. The real Rolex retails for Y33,000. The appearance is identical and I am told that the quality is very good.

The Chinese are very good at copying brand name products and because their labour cost is so low their retail price is also quite low. Such copied products are called `Knock Offs' and one must be cautious when buying them. There are poor quality knock offs and good quality knock offs.

From the outskirts of PuDong to the Lotus Supercenter is a twenty minute bus ride. A forty minute bus ride takes you to the main shopping area of PuDong but still not to the main downtown area of Shanghai.

On PuDong Rd. S., is a building with three floors of computer stores. Much like the small computer stores one would encounter in the Parker Center in Richmond, side by side, or on tables in the courtyards like the stalls in the monthly computer swap meet. Vendors vie for customers by offering similar products and services at similar prices to those in Canada. IBM style computers and peripherals were approximately the same price as in Canada but Macintosh products were more expensive.

Next door to the computer store, at the intersection of Zhang Yang Rd. was a Yaohan center, owned by the same Japanese company that owns the Yaohan center in Richmond. However, the comparison between the two stores is like the difference between night and day, or should I say Yin and Yang.

In one wing of the main floor is an auto display with the latest model of Buick, Lexus, Jaguar, Honda, Hyundai, etc. The floor space of the building is probably three times that of the one in Richmond. It is like a giant Hudson Bay store with all the various departments: furnishings; clothing; cosmetics; etc. The entire ninth floor is a food court.

Bin's brother had given us the addresses for a couple of trade shows that were displaying the latest in down insulated outer wear so we spent the afternoon walking NanJing Rd. and comparing prices and quality of vests and coats at various retail shops and the trade shows. Eventually I purchased a nylon vest containing 20 % down and 80 % duck feathers for Y225 and a ski coat with hood, containing, 100% eiderdown for Y520. In Canada this coat would probably sell for $520.

The most memorable part of this shopping experience was not the great price I got but the disruption I caused. While shopping at one display, clerks from nearby displays would overhear what it was I was looking for, hold up their wares, and call to me. As well, fellow shoppers would stop to watch and see how I compared quality, size, and accessories.

When I went to look in a mirror I would have to part a throng of onlookers. In the mirror, my reflection was closely surrounded, by that of fellow shoppers.

First and foremost for me, when shopping for clothes is size. I stand 6' 4" and weight 230, well OK, 240 pounds. I need XXXL but several of the sellers assured me that their XXL were underrated and sure enough I did end up buying XXL. In fact, the ski coat I bought is an XL. But on the whole most of their XXL were too small.