In the past 10 years I’ve been living on and off mainly between my home country China and Canada. Now each time when I return to Hangzhou – my hometown in China, I don’t feel much difference or any inconvenience materially as I did 10 years ago. The reason is very simple: The West is “in” China now.
This morning I drive half an hour to Sam Club for shopping just as I usually go quite a while for shopping at Costco in Canada. A new Costco store also has its first outlet here in Hangzhou, attracting People Mountain People Sea (Huge Crowds of People).
Though a Costco membership, I still prefer Sam Club at Xiqi Expression City in Hangzhou, which is just half an hour’s drive away from where I live. The Sam Club in Hangzhou was the first store Walmart opened in China in the year 2013. Now Sam’s Club has many clubs in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Suzhou and more cities.
Costco is not new to me, but still is quite a pleasant gift for the local people. It was said when it was opened last month, Costco was overwhelmed with enthusiastic shoppers coming all parts of Hangzhou.
Hangzhou Costco is located in Xiaoshan District, a bit far away from my living place, one of the reasons I lose interest in going there for shopping.
Today is Friday, the beginning of the weekend, to avoid the crowd later in the day, I choose to start earlier than usual in the morning in spite of the intermittent rain.
The Sam Club is on the underground floor, opening at 9: am. After parking my car, I walk directly to the toilet affiliated to Sam Club, nice and clean, not to be overshadowed by any counterparts in the west.
After showing my Sam Club Membership using my smart phone, I enter the spacious and bright warehouse, feeling I’m living in Canada or in the States, what’s the difference? Maybe it is the Chinese characters? or the Oriental faces? Materially, products likewise basically the same.
Not so many people in the store as I expect due to the still early in the morning. In Sam Club, I mainly buy some meat or fish – beef, pork, and Salmon fish to be stored in our freezer and consumed for two weeks. Each time I also purchase the some amount of vegetable for 3 or 4 days since our local community supermarket can conveniently make up for large portion of our daily fresh produces.
As for check out, I prefer self-check out using my face to pay for my goods. Not a celebrity, I don’t care very much about my so-called privacy. Having my face scanned, the payment will be done, very convenient.
You may ask about the prices regarding the products between China and the West, particularly Canada and the States. The answer is “not that big difference as the globe is becoming more identical.
Hangzhou, China
September 15, 2023
