How the Walmart in China made me feel at home (Wo Er Ma 沃尔玛!)

You can imagine my excitement when I was standing in a bus in Zhengzhou, China and glanced up to see the words "Walmart." To me, Walmart = Home. Walmart is more American than just about anything I can think of. It is more American than baseball and hot dogs. Hey; it is more American than hot dogs AT a baseball game. So when I saw the Walmart sign and the weird circle logo thing (I feel like I am waiting for my computer to finish loading), I knew that I would be back. If you build it, they will come (Walmart and Americans that is).

I was talking to a friend one day and happened to causally mention Walmart (I happen to mention Walmart a lot whenever I feel casual). She had told me that she really wanted to go to Walmart as well. She had spent a year and a half on an LDS mission in New York but never had the chance to go to Walmart. Basically the equivalent of going to China and not seeing the great wall. For sad. So we both made up our minds that we were going to Walmart!

On a nice sunny Saturday (I know... bad idea to shop on a Saturday in the most populated city, in the most populated province in the most populated country in the world...) we decided to hop on a bus that would take us directly to Walmart. About 200 people and 45 minutes later, we finally showed up at Walmart!

In front of Walmart

Walmart was hardly noticeable. It was inside a mall and other than the fact that there was a small sign on the outside, you would really have no idea that a Walmart existed there. We walked inside the mall and followed the signs that would take us to Walmart. We took the escalator down and here we began our Walmart journey!

I should mention that I am pretty good at lowering my expectations for certain things (especially in China) as a measure to not be disappointed as often. I chose to use this tactic for Walmart as well, just in case Walmart didn't make all of my American dreams come true. When I first walked into the store though I was able to take a sigh of relief. Relief that I was smart enough to lower my expectations. Right away I could tell that Walmart was just like any other supermarket in China. I knew that most things would be Chinese, but a part of me hoped that I could find something that I would find in a Walmart in America. Seems like a simple enough request considering that most items that Walmart sells probably originate from China anyhow.

At any rate, I was happy to be there shopping and I did see quite a few things that reminded me of home.

Great Value Packaging

Perhaps the most obvious sign that you are in a Walmart is the Great Value packaging. That was perhaps the only thing in the entire store that let me know I was really in a Walmart. It was actually quite beautiful to see. Oddly (sadly?) enough, the Great Value packaging here usually means that the price is going to be a bit more than the non Great Value products. I wonder what that makes everything else? Greater Value? Chaoji (超级) Value?

While I didn't see many American things that you can't buy elsewhere in China, I certainly saw a lot of  Chinese things that you can't really get in America.

Frozen Chicken breasts. And wings. And head.

While I do recall being able to buy chicken breasts in America, I don't really remember any package deal where you are lucky enough to get the wings, legs, head and even feet along with the chicken. The best part is that the chicken isn't even trapped inside a bag, so you are welcome to carefully pick it up and inspect the chicken before you buy it.

Fish and ducks

In a Walmart in America, you will usually find at least one or two isles full of hunting and fishing gear. China is a bit smarter than that and just takes you ahead of the game. Rather than providing you what you need to fish or hunt, they just give you the fish or duck already hanging. So much easier (and cheaper I imagine).

Next big thing: Advertisements on apples.

OK. I don't know what the deal is, but this is pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen. This definitely needs to be done in America. When I showed these apples to my friend, she was trying to figure out what I was so excited about like it was not a big deal. Well; this is a big deal. This is perhaps the coolest thing I have ever seen done to fruit (no; I have not yet seen the cubed watermelon they sell in Japan).

Apples taste better when they mean something

How cool would it be to have an apple say something like "Golden Delicious." You could expand this to valentines day and just have a big heart on it...    then cut it in half with a knife! (bwa ha ha evil laugh)

Milk and Rubix cube

Well this is useful. Now when you are drinking your milk and contemplating whether or not it is actually healthy for you, you can play with your Rubix cube as well. How convenient.

I was able to see one thing in Walmart that I have not seen anywhere else in China and is very American.

Duct tape!

I found duct tape! I have been looking for this ever since I got to China! Sadly, most of the reasons I wanted to purchase duct tape in the first place no longer apply, and the price for duct tape was a bit more than I cared to pay for. At least now I know where to find it. Note to future travelers: always carry a roll of duct tape with you.

Escalators are used in all supermarkets

I did some more exploring, but it really was not too exciting. I did find a few things at Walmart that I haven't seen in other large supermarkets here.

Eventually we decided to leave. I think the craziest thing of the whole experience is that when I was ready to check out, there was only one person in line in front of me. That is pretty unheard of for a Walmart, and especially unheard of for China.

So I guess the title of this blog post may have been a bit misleading. What I meant to say was that if I was from China, the Walmart here would have helped me to feel right at home.

Walmart. I miss you. Please come to China. For realz this time.

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I do feel the need to mention a few other things I noticed right outside of Walmart that I thought were interesting. Since Walmart was in a mall, I decided to go exploring a bit. Usually a mall is the last place I would choose to go exploring, but I don't have too many other options. One thing that was cool was that when I got to the top floor of the mall, there weren't very many people. It was probably the first time in China that  I didn't feel things were overly crowded.

I also saw a Papa John's pizza. Hopefully that is more like a Papa Johns than Walmart is like Walmart.

One thing I kept looking for in Walmart was aftershave or cologne. No where to be seen. Turns out that things that don't stink are hard to come by in China. Things that actually smell GOOD are even harder to come by. So I was very excited when I stopped by a store in the mall that had cologne! My excitement was quickly lost when I saw that the cheapest bottle was about 70 USD. (Happy news update: I went to a random shop today that had some aftershave for about $2. It is MEN brand so you know it has to be good. Besides, "men skin care supplies for men look fresh and feel comfortable. Soothe tighten toner." I think I found a winner.)

The last shop that I checked out at the mall was a cinema. Something that was really cool was that the less popular movies were cheaper in price. They actually based their movie prices based on what people were willing to pay for them. Take THAT capitalist America!