Long Live Capi...Communism?

Supermarkets: the tangible, iconic representations of American capitalism. Isle upon isle of merchandise in all shapes, sizes, colors, flavors, and prices. Gleaming white floors and bright-as-the-future fluorescents give each product its very own place on that stage which marketers use to mesmerize lesser beings into making a purchase. The merchandise poses for its audience, eventually making a leap into the shopping cart, soon prompting your wallet to do an altogether different dance (...to the chime of a cash register). Nowhere is this capitalist phenomenon better displayed than in the czar of commerce, the ever thrifty and notoriously famous American Walmart. Of course, you are not surprised to know that there are over 80 Walmart stores in China - it is, after all, a communist nation. In part to satisfy their hunger for cheap market goods, in part to witness raw capitalism at its finest, the author and his roommate embark upon a quest to visit the local You Ess of Ey style retailer in Beijing.

You may be blind, but this is one billboard you won't miss. Impersonating insects mindlessly flying towards a light (and doom) we rushed towards the sign (and the doom of our cash supply).

Yep, the Beijing Walmart stocks Citizen watches, don't ask how much they cost.

This Walmart occupies 3 massive floors and uses an escalator to move people and carts between them. This was freakin' awesome, the logistics side in me was jumping up and down for joy and envisioning massive transhipments of people and goods between the floors just for the hell of it. No stupid, you don't have to stop the cart from rolling away, it has little legs that nearly touch the ground when moving on level space and then engage the "treads" of these escalators when you are on them. Simple, low-tech, and effective. Beautiful.

People as far as the eye can see. Surprised? Here Frenchman Sylvain is pretending to be one of the locals. You didn't fool anyone, buddy.

Those (chocolate?) covered caterpillars fetch over $1200 a kilo. Bet you don't see that every day at your local supermarket.

Mmmmmmm. Tasty.

Can we pretend this is FDA approved? I'll take the one with the biggest beak, please.

You can't spell communism (or is it capitalism?) without Coca-Cola.

How's this for a branding strategy? Study up, my grasshopper marketing major friends.

They take their product displays seriously in this town.