I Love China

Luckily, I grabbed loads when I could and have enough stock to keep me going till next week!

Please consider this formal notice that with immediate effect this blog is being renamed WoAi Marks and Spencer and this blog will deal exclusively with Marks and Spencer related stories only.

I’m sure I am not the only one to be highly amused by this item in the Shanghai branch of Marks and Spencer. Just so we’re clear, this is Chinese egg fried rice, imported from a British retailer to China. The reverse situation would be unimaginable – fish and chips made by a Chinese company, exported to England and sold at a higher price than the British brands? Read the rest of this entry »

At 11.30am today, Marks and Spencer finally opened its first store on the Chinese mainland. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep last night and was up at the crack of dawn, my head full of images of tea bags, Jaffa cakes, cookies and salt and vinegar crisps (potato chips to all you non-Brits).

The food section – by far the most crowded part of the store.

The food section was disappointingly small, but they still had a decent selection of crisps, teas, pasta sauces, wines, chocolate, sweets and frozen food.

My first day haul – I’ll be back for more soon!

The shoe section was embarrassingly limited, with no sign of their Jeffrey West collection which is the only range of theirs I would consider wearing. I was happy to see some home furnishing products though, including scented candles, towels etc.

No Jeffrey West shoes

I was genuinely surprised at how busy the place was and apart from the food section, which was packed with salivating Brits after a taste of home (both pack sizes of cheese tasters were completely sold out by the time I arrived), most of the customers were Chinese. I sort of expected a few curious Chinese window shoppers, but many were leaving the store with 3 or 4 bags full of shopping.

First day shoppers explore the newly opened M&S Shanghai.

This is all good news of course, because it means M&S are probably going to do well with their first foray into mainland China, which means I will no longer have to come back from England with a suitcase full of goodies that I can now buy right here in Shanghai – yay!

Nanjing Road, Shanghai.

British clothing and food retailer Marks & Spencer is about to open its first store in mainland China. It will be a huge 4900 square metre (almost as big as my apartment), 4-floor store, the largest in Asia I believe, and of course, it’ll be in China’s most fashionable city, Shanghai. It’s located on Najing West Road, on the original site of Shanghai’s famous Hongxiang Department Store.

From the looks of things when I passed by on Wednesday night, we’re only days away from being able to buy tea bags, crisps, sweets, and of course lovely M&S underwear, right in the heart of Shanghai. No more quick runs to Hong Kong to get essential supplies. Hurrah!