A few days ago I finally made my way into the 5 storey shopping mall that is adjacent to the university. It's hard to miss as I have to go past it each day and there's a million bikes parked out the front with scooters streaming past forming a single lane alongside construction on the main road. Although it goes by some official Chinese name, we've nicknamed it Himaxx because there's some Himaxx signage out the front for a store inside.
The Empty Mall
Once I eventually found the entrance and went in, I was a bit underwhelmed. The ground floor has almost nothing. There's a Pizza Hut, a KFC, a supermarket, a Luckin Coffee, Watsons, a Xiami outlet, a small department store/clothing outlet place, and a few other non descript restaurants. The mall was largely empty. I went up to the next floor and it was largely devoid of life - empty stores, barely a soul in sight. This repeated on each floor, with the odd restaurant, but almost nothing else. On level 5 was a cinema with two screens and some old school mini arcade game machines that faced each other and looked pretty cool. Nearby the cinema was a fancy billiards place with a lot of guys inside. On level 3 tuicked away in the corner was an upmarket gym which was also quite busy. The rest of the floors were empty bar something random or obscure, such as the abandoned mini car racing track. It seems online shopping really has killed off the small malls here.
The Angry Man
Inside Watsons I checked out some spray deodorants, having had my nice brand new one confiscated by security at Honqiao Train Station. I was the only customer the entire time I was there. I did a quick test of the two kinds that were available. Out of nowhere the store assistant, a nerdy young man with nothing better to do than embrace his inner short man syndrome, did just that. "No noooo", he cried out appearing from nowhere. I attempted to explain I was just testing it but that didn't deter him. He kept ranting while I smiled and walked around and he tagged along. I paid for one of the deodorants then left. Although he was annoyed for whatever reason, he still wasn't on the volcanic eruption perplectic level, like the police lady with the short hair was, who served me and another teacher when we had to apply for our residency permit. She was a whole lot of angry rage, barking commands and glaring. The only thing missing from her persona was a Gestapo uniform.
The Supermarket
Having left Watsons, I went in to the supermarket at the other end of the mall on the ground floor. I'd been told that there was a supermarket in the mall last year but it wasn't so good and had closed down. This new supermarket was polar opposites. Medium in size, it was brand new and shiny. In fact it was one of the nicest looking supermarkets I've ever been in here. It had a few registers at one end, with the various snack sections in front of that. To the side was cleaning, kitchen and bathroom supplies, toys and stationery. Along the wall near the snacks was a dairy section, complete with Kraft Singles type cheese slices (which aren't so nice here) and cream cheese triangles. On the other side was a bakery section with lots of breads and desserts.
What really stood out though were the various deli style sections with counters all around. There was one for dumplings and various steamed buns, another one had assorted ducks, chicken, sausages, hunks of pork, a pickled vegetable section, and a Chinese style salad bar. Adjacent to this were tables. One had my favourite peanuts with sichuan pepper and chilli. ANother had dishes already cooked including fried chicken, and other vats of brightly coloured chicken pieces. Beyond all this was a fruit and vegetable area. For items not pre-wrapped with a bar code, one simply takes their items up to a counter where the people working there simply weigh your items and put a bar code on them with the price. That's pretty much how the rest of the store worked.
I grabbed a bunch of chicken wings with tongs, placing them in a palstic bag then handed them to a storeperson who stuck a label on and handed them back. I filled three small containers with assorted cooked chicken, fried, garlic soy and a Korean style yangnyeom sweet, sticky sauce. I got some cucumber pieces in soy sauce and vinegar, and shredded potato in sesame oil and chilli. I then looked at the Japanese area which featured small cuts of meat and fish at exorbitant prices. Even the fish tanks were clean looking and the fish laid out on ice also looked very fresh. There was an aisle with a small selection of imported procts like curry sauces, Kewpie mayonnaise. My one complaint though, was I couldn't see any pasta or pasta sauce. Not sure if it was hiding anywhere but usually those are the very items most self-respecting stores have when they stock imported foodstuffs.
The Great Wall
I headed back to the drinks area in front of the snacks for a closer investigation. There was one aisle where every item was beer, mostly from around the world - The Great Wall of Beer! There were the usual suspects, including the Belgian Trappists, German Paulaner bottles and cans (Paulaner has breweries across China), as well as weird sounding varieties I'd never heard of before such as Wizard beer and a couple of Belching Beaver. Who could resist sampling something by that name? I grabbed a Belching Beaver Mocha Latte Golden Stout and a few Coronas and went to pay.
Overall, this was a great shopping experience and I'm very thankful that this supermarket is only 15 minutes away on foot. Staff were attentive, and more senior looking people were milling around making sure people were getting served and checking on the various food sections. Things have changed since one of my earliest shopping experiences , way back in Shenyang, Liaoning, in 2010, whereby a checkout worker in a small supermarket opposte the university I was based at kept flinging my items as she scanned them, much to my delight.
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