I'm here in India because I work for Target (as a reminder, this is a purely personal blog, none of the opinions here are those of my employer...) and it's a great company to work for. However I hadn't realized how much I appreciate our products (the stores) until now, when I have lost access to them.
I mentioned in my previous post the standard thing about Target, that no matter what you go to the store to buy, you always end up finding more cool stuff, so it's almost impossible to get out without spending under $100, but that in many mass merchandise stores or supermarkets here it's impossible to spend less than an hour. Not necessarily because it's fun to browse, but because the layout is so perplexing and the checkout process is mind-numbing. Target is incredibly focused on making the shopping experience pleasurable; that mentality hasn't quite made it here yet (although I think local stores are trying hard).
Our local big supermarket is HyperCity, which does a pretty good job on the whole. Their fresh produce and grocery selection is pretty good, but a lot of their household goods are very KMart-ish, or worse. They also have a weird way of putting things on the shelves so that there's never quite enough of what you're after so you spend ages trying to find the right thing. The image of the store to customers is different too - I think on the whole they try pretty hard, but when that extends to a team lead loudly berating his team in the middle of the store it's a tad misguided. And the checkouts are soooooooooo sllllllllooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww. Not to mention the amost non-stop Kenny G-type music piped through most of the store, only drowned out in the electronics department where the TVs are all on FULL BLAST ALL THE TIME.
Speaking of canned music, most places seem to like to play Kenny G or some other bland version of muzak. Until you have the experience Toby and I had yesterday at Mega Mart (which we call Crap Mart). We were looking for new swimming shorts for Toby, as he'd left his swim bag at the bus stop last week. Crap Mart is kind of like the local version of Kohl's - tons of stuff, including American brands like Cherokee, but none of it necessarily what you're after, and the store is so crowded that it's not very inviting. Anyway, Toby found a small toy jet fighter which he wanted to use his allowance on, so he stood in the checkout line. It took forever to get to the front, and several times he asked me why it was taking so long, but while he was there the music switched abruptly from Kenny G to some rap I think even Jay-Z would blush if he were asked to sing it. Totally uncensored, blasting out to all the nice families in the store. It was something about the miseries of someone's ex forcing him to pay child support - please don't try to imagine how unpleasant it was.
To add further (less profane) insult to this, the stores all insist that you leave any bags outside in a storage locker, and the security guards insist on checking your receipt for purchases, even if you're an 8 year old boy who just spent Rs149 on a toy plane. Sheesh.
So anyway, I miss and hugely appreciate Target. Oh, and we didn't manage to get Toby swim shorts in Crap Mart, we had to go to a sports store, and the only thing they had in his size was small red shorts. He seems to like them, and apparently some of his friends at school wear them. I'm reasonably sure that I'd have gotten a rough time if I wore something similar for school swimming, but he seems a lot more confident.
I mentioned in my previous post the standard thing about Target, that no matter what you go to the store to buy, you always end up finding more cool stuff, so it's almost impossible to get out without spending under $100, but that in many mass merchandise stores or supermarkets here it's impossible to spend less than an hour. Not necessarily because it's fun to browse, but because the layout is so perplexing and the checkout process is mind-numbing. Target is incredibly focused on making the shopping experience pleasurable; that mentality hasn't quite made it here yet (although I think local stores are trying hard).
Our local big supermarket is HyperCity, which does a pretty good job on the whole. Their fresh produce and grocery selection is pretty good, but a lot of their household goods are very KMart-ish, or worse. They also have a weird way of putting things on the shelves so that there's never quite enough of what you're after so you spend ages trying to find the right thing. The image of the store to customers is different too - I think on the whole they try pretty hard, but when that extends to a team lead loudly berating his team in the middle of the store it's a tad misguided. And the checkouts are soooooooooo sllllllllooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww. Not to mention the amost non-stop Kenny G-type music piped through most of the store, only drowned out in the electronics department where the TVs are all on FULL BLAST ALL THE TIME.
Speaking of canned music, most places seem to like to play Kenny G or some other bland version of muzak. Until you have the experience Toby and I had yesterday at Mega Mart (which we call Crap Mart). We were looking for new swimming shorts for Toby, as he'd left his swim bag at the bus stop last week. Crap Mart is kind of like the local version of Kohl's - tons of stuff, including American brands like Cherokee, but none of it necessarily what you're after, and the store is so crowded that it's not very inviting. Anyway, Toby found a small toy jet fighter which he wanted to use his allowance on, so he stood in the checkout line. It took forever to get to the front, and several times he asked me why it was taking so long, but while he was there the music switched abruptly from Kenny G to some rap I think even Jay-Z would blush if he were asked to sing it. Totally uncensored, blasting out to all the nice families in the store. It was something about the miseries of someone's ex forcing him to pay child support - please don't try to imagine how unpleasant it was.
To add further (less profane) insult to this, the stores all insist that you leave any bags outside in a storage locker, and the security guards insist on checking your receipt for purchases, even if you're an 8 year old boy who just spent Rs149 on a toy plane. Sheesh.
So anyway, I miss and hugely appreciate Target. Oh, and we didn't manage to get Toby swim shorts in Crap Mart, we had to go to a sports store, and the only thing they had in his size was small red shorts. He seems to like them, and apparently some of his friends at school wear them. I'm reasonably sure that I'd have gotten a rough time if I wore something similar for school swimming, but he seems a lot more confident.
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