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Is there K-Mart or Wal-Mart like stores in Singapore?

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the lynx
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Post by the lynx » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:46 am

zzm9980 wrote:No, I haven't gone to any of those places. I've been to Tebrau City a few times though. Did do some grocery shopping in the store inside there. I forgot it's name, but it wasn't terrible. Better than Giant (SG) I thought.
My friend, you have finally shopped in one of the finest Juscos in JB. :P :P :P

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Post by Travailes » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:59 am

the lynx wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:It's lower than Giant? :cry:

See CostCo is more like a big warehouse, and actually has high quality stuff. It's just that they only sell in bulk, and the selection will vary. For example if the average US Grocery store has 100 different varieties of cereal on average, Costco will only have 30, all top non-generic brands, but you'll need to buy it in these giant boxes 50% larger than the normal size. And sometimes bundled into a two-pack. Like Mayonaise? Same thing, you'll only have 2 or 3 brands, not 10, to choose from, and you're getting 3 liters of it. Fresh organic blueberries? Less than half the price of anywhere else, but you're buying 10 kilo.

Things like electronics and TVs are usually good brands, the second most recent model. Samsung's highest quality 60" LED, but this one only has 4 HDMI, not 5 HDMI ports because it's the one from early 2012.




Target or Walmart are laid out exactly like a Giant, but a few notches up in quality. On 1-10, if 10 is best possible quality and 1 is complete knock-off crap that will fall apart in a few months, I'd mark Giant a 3, Walmart a 4.5, and Target a 6 or 7.
Now that you have compared Giant, Giants in Malaysia are just as bad as Tesco Values in Malaysia (with regular Tescos being better than both). And we have learned from anecdotal experiences NOT to buy electronics from there.

Jusco is the best among them. So if I were to rank (personal preference, really):

Jusco > Tesco > (Tesco Value = Giant)

I thought you do your grocery shopping regularly in Tescos/Juscos in JB? You should be able to notice that. :wink:

I cannot speak for the Tesco store in Johor but have just returned from Malacca where we made a point to visit the large Tesco store there hoping to stock up on some 'value' staples there. What a shocking place ! The stench from the 'fresh' meat counter made half of the store unexplorable ! There was a man with a mop on duty clearing up the constant drip of blood and goo from the non-refrigerated chicken pick and mix stall. The fish smelled rotten and I wouldn't give any of the 'fresh' vegetables to my mother in law ! It was unlike any Tescos I have ever been in. There was very little on sale that was branded as a 'Tesco' product and to be honest just felt like any other asian supermarket. As for other stuff like kids clothes - well I have never seen such badly made, unfashionable clothes in my life. For the first time ever since living in this region, I really felt like I was in a third world country !

Back to Singapore, I don't think it is the lack of supermarket choice - Giant, Fair Price, Cold Storage, Shiong Sheng etc but it is more the complete lack of discounting which we are used to in the west. None of them discount to buy market share. Guess they don't have to. Most prices are the same at every shop. That applies to chemists, petrol stations, fashion outlets etc

Can't really see Tesco, Wal Mart succeeding here because the things they sell cheap, BOGOFs etc will still be expensive here - booze, spirits, electrical goods, canned goods, fresh meat, breakfast cereal etc. Not only the tax but also the cost of shipping the stuff kills their margin.
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Post by zzm9980 » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:34 am

the lynx wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:No, I haven't gone to any of those places. I've been to Tebrau City a few times though. Did do some grocery shopping in the store inside there. I forgot it's name, but it wasn't terrible. Better than Giant (SG) I thought.
My friend, you have finally shopped in one of the finest Juscos in JB. :P :P :P
Oh, that is a Jusco? The one inside on the second or third floor, not outside.

It wasn't a bad place. Can't say I'd go there just to shop though.

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Post by the lynx » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:57 am

zzm9980 wrote:Oh, that is a Jusco? The one inside on the second or third floor, not outside.

It wasn't a bad place. Can't say I'd go there just to shop though.
Yes the one inside Tebrau City is Jusco (didn't you notice the big maroon sign on top of the building that says Jusco?) :P

Travailes wrote:I cannot speak for the Tesco store in Johor but have just returned from Malacca where we made a point to visit the large Tesco store there hoping to stock up on some 'value' staples there. What a shocking place ! The stench from the 'fresh' meat counter made half of the store unexplorable ! There was a man with a mop on duty clearing up the constant drip of blood and goo from the non-refrigerated chicken pick and mix stall. The fish smelled rotten and I wouldn't give any of the 'fresh' vegetables to my mother in law ! It was unlike any Tescos I have ever been in. There was very little on sale that was branded as a 'Tesco' product and to be honest just felt like any other asian supermarket. As for other stuff like kids clothes - well I have never seen such badly made, unfashionable clothes in my life. For the first time ever since living in this region, I really felt like I was in a third world country !
You have described almost 90% of all Tescos in Malaysia, especially Tesco Extra, where housekeeping in raw food section is bad and the choice of non-food products is distasteful. But that's my personal opinion only.

The same happens in Thailand's Tesco Lotus but I've only been to one in Hatyai so far.

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Post by zzm9980 » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:29 pm

the lynx wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:Oh, that is a Jusco? The one inside on the second or third floor, not outside.

It wasn't a bad place. Can't say I'd go there just to shop though.
Yes the one inside Tebrau City is Jusco (didn't you notice the big maroon sign on top of the building that says Jusco?) :P
Nope! I saw a lot of logos but don't really remember paying attention to them.

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Post by Brah » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 6:05 pm

I bought something at Giant Vivo recently, it was the same thing for a lower price than some other places, so there I went.

That place is really depressing and made me not want to go back. I never felt that from Mustafa or Carrefour.

And most of what Giant had was as you say, crap, to the point of not even worth buying.
zzm9980 wrote: It's lower than Giant? :cry:

Target or Walmart are laid out exactly like a Giant, but a few notches up in quality. On 1-10, if 10 is best possible quality and 1 is complete knock-off crap that will fall apart in a few months, I'd mark Giant a 3, Walmart a 4.5, and Target a 6 or 7.

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Post by JR8 » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 6:17 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:There was a K-Mart in Singapore years ago, but it only lasted around 3 or 4 years then folded up, much like Carrefour.
Same happened to Walmart in Germany. One report I read suggested it was torpedoed because it was 'uncompetitive'. That is 'uncompetitive' as in 'too competitive' vs local retailers... no kidding!

cf. the protected status of 'mom and pop' pharmacies in Germany.

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Post by Mi Amigo » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 7:03 pm

Travailes wrote:There was a man with a mop on duty clearing up the constant drip of blood and goo from the non-refrigerated chicken pick and mix stall.
I think I may have just become a vegetarian :o
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Post by scarbowl » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 8:33 pm

JR8 wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:There was a K-Mart in Singapore years ago, but it only lasted around 3 or 4 years then folded up, much like Carrefour.
Same happened to Walmart in Germany. One report I read suggested it was torpedoed because it was 'uncompetitive'. That is 'uncompetitive' as in 'too competitive' vs local retailers... no kidding!

cf. the protected status of 'mom and pop' pharmacies in Germany.
Perhaps. But the unemployment rate in Germany is a fraction of the States. Germany actually MAKES things. Germans live longer than Americans, too. Germans SAVE money, Americans have huge debts. Their standard of living is higher than the average Americans. Seems this policy serves Germany well!

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Post by JR8 » Tue, 30 Oct 2012 9:35 pm

scarbowl wrote: Perhaps.

>> No, there is no perhaps about it, it is fact.

But the unemployment rate in Germany is a fraction of the States.

>> 'The tired, the hungry, the poor' seek to go to America rather than Germany. In Germany you legally cannot work more than 35hrs a week. Any self respecting immigrant wouldn't hesitate to do, nay is gagging to do 50, 60, 80? I know I was (This is getting rather circular...)

Germany actually MAKES things.

Your point being? So does the US but that aside a Knowledge Economy is what a manufacturing one evolves into. What virtue in 'making' if you can import for 1/10th of the price?'. Please spare me the Noble Manual Worker spiel. So you're both incorrect but also making a point that underlines what a backwards economy Germany has.

Germans live longer than Americans, too.

But they get to spend it living in a shitty country. ;)

Germans SAVE money, Americans have huge debts.

I'm sitting here stupefied and blinking...! I'm curious what has got you banging Germany's drum on this. Er... you're coming at this as a socialist+ yah?

Their standard of living is higher than the average Americans. Seems this policy serves Germany well!

Which would be why you don't live here in Germany... right?

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Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:41 pm

Good morning everyone. Costco is a very progressive company. If you would like them to open up a location in SG, perhaps you can provide your feedback on their website costco.com .

They have recently opened up a store in Taiwan. Given the expensive real estate in SG, I am not sure if they can keep their prices as competitive as in the USA. Last week, I bought a 2 lb bag of yeast for only USD4. Wow, unbelievable.

Costco makes living in the USA worthwhile. LOL!

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Post by zzm9980 » Fri, 02 Nov 2012 9:06 am

earthfriendly wrote:Good morning everyone. Costco is a very progressive company. If you would like them to open up a location in SG, perhaps you can provide your feedback on their website costco.com .

They have recently opened up a store in Taiwan. Given the expensive real estate in SG, I am not sure if they can keep their prices as competitive as in the USA. Last week, I bought a 2 lb bag of yeast for only USD4. Wow, unbelievable.

Costco makes living in the USA worthwhile. LOL!
I would dread a CostCo in Singapore. One of the local jokes was that you avoided Costco like the plague due to the horrendous driving in the parking lot. The racial (and thus driver's) demographics for where I last lived in California is similar to Singapore's, but much much lower population density. If we had the same thing in Singapore there would be a dozen car accidents a day within 50m of the store.

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Post by Brah » Fri, 02 Nov 2012 9:25 am

This sounds a bit like flip-flopping, I thought you were saying you would want one of these kinds of stores, but I must have misread that.

It would at least be good to have the choice whether or not to go.

Solution is easy - as with IKEA here, take a taxi!

And BTW, there were no such parking issues at Japan's CostCo.
zzm9980 wrote:I would dread a CostCo in Singapore. One of the local jokes was that you avoided Costco like the plague due to the horrendous driving in the parking lot. The racial (and thus driver's) demographics for where I last lived in California is similar to Singapore's, but much much lower population density. If we had the same thing in Singapore there would be a dozen car accidents a day within 50m of the store.

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Post by earthfriendly » Fri, 02 Nov 2012 9:42 am

That is the thing with Costco. It is hard to find parking. I tried to beat traffic by arriving early, shortly after opening time. Quite surprise to find that the lot was pretty full and was told they open 15 mins before the official time. They must have done something right to be so popular. They just have to make sure to provide ample parking so we don't end up circling the lot. Parking garages?

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Post by nakatago » Fri, 02 Nov 2012 9:46 am

Brah wrote:And BTW, there were no such parking issues in Japan
:wink:
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