LOOKS LIKE THE GAME HAS CHANGED

I came across this news on the Washington Post today:

“To boost flagging economy, U.S. wants to import more shoppers.

For the first time, lawmakers, businesses and even White House officials are courting consumers from cash-rich countries such as China, India and Brazil to fill the nation’s shopping malls and pick up the slack for penny-pinching (+-“econômicos, reticentes em gastar”) Americans”.

When in 2008 I shopped in a partly empty WalMart store in the state of Nevada, I couldn’t help but compare with other business run by the same group in Brazil, Big Supermarkets, in this case. Those clear corridors with very few costumers nowhere reminded me the long lines teemed with eager consumers I see every time I go to Big over here in Porto Alegre.

I also remember walking out of an Oakley store in Las Vegas with the bag in which I was carrying some pairs of jackets, hoodies, pants and blouses that was so heavy to the point of being torn apart, after paying the ridiculous amount of about U$300,00, which in turn could only pay one item of clothing at the Oakley store at Barra Mall in Porto Alegre.  

I’m not alone in it. A guy called Guo Hui from China, experienced pretty much the same:

“Guo Hui, 37, who lives in Beijing, recently returned home from a two-week tour of Yellowstone National Park, Houston and Los Angeles. He estimated he spent $2,000 to rent a car and pay for gas and lodging for himself and his wife. Then there was the Ed Hardy T-shirt, the Apple laptop, the HP laptop, even baby food and formula for his child, totaling an additional $6,000.

Still, Guo said prices are significantly cheaper than in China — a pair of Adidas sneakers costs only $25 at a U.S. outlet mall”.

After your USA shopping experience buying in Brazil stores might always be a disappointing stuff. I mean, not that we don’t have world-class products, it’s just that they are too expensive for the regular pocket.