An All-American, Chinese WAL-MART

When it comes to world-colliding-goodness it just doesn’t get much better than visiting a WAL-MART in China. Same WAL-MART smiley faces, same greeters, same low prices, but oh so different.

The deli has an alligator on ice.

You can buy snakes too. They are alive and squirming all over each other. I’m not sure how you get them without getting bit. Do you pick them up with your hands? I don’t see any plastic tongs.

The fish in the tanks aren’t to take home as pets.

There’s karaoke.

There are samples. Whatever happened to samples in the USA?

The toy aisle is kind of small. The only action figures they have are Transformers (cool) and some guy named UltraMan who looks like a real tool. For the girls they have a selection Barbie dolls. They are all Caucasian.

In fact, if it weren’t for all of the Chinese lettering on everything, you would look at the models on the posters and the packaging and think you were home.

99% of the products in the store are made in China. So, when the locals shop at WAL-MART they ARE buying local.