Wal-Mart, Shenzhen-Style

Shelly's back from a quick trip to Shenzhen, on Hong Kong's northern border with mailand China, where she spent the day at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. (Not on a shopping trip, mind you, but just to gather some intelligence on Wal-Mart China.)

From her report, it sounds as though Wal-Marts in China bear little resemblance to those in the U.S.

"If you were blindfolded and dropped into the store, would you know you were in Wal-Mart?" I asked her.

"Not really," she said.

First off, the Wal-Mart and Sam's she visited were both multi-level stores plopped down in the middle of high-rise apartment blocks, a far cry from the suburban locations Wal-Mart chooses in the States. (The Wal-Mart didn't even appear to have a parking lot, but that's not really necessary in a dense urban area like Shenzhen.) Plus, she says, there were, on average, three staff members per aisle to assist customers. I can't remember the last time I needed assistance in the Salisbury Wal-Mart that I didn't have to wander across half the sales floor to find someone to help me.

Sadly, there weren't aisles full of Sam's Choice merchandise, ruling out Wal-Mart China as a place for us to stock up on inexpensive drugs and contact lens supplies. In fact, Shelly says there were very few imported items at all.

There was, however, a display of Fuji apples with a Wal-Mart smiley face somehow added to the skin. As near as we can guess, the smiley's application must have been done either with some kind of sprayed-on acidic solution sprayed or some kind of laser-like technology, as the smiley was completely smooth and flush with the rest of the apple skin. If you have any idea how this was done, we'd love to know.