Ordinary Gweilo

I used to think that Hong Kong supermarkets were easy enough to categorise.

• CitySuper and Great have lots of stuff I want, but can’t afford
• Park’n’Shop certainly isn’t Tesco or Sainsburys, but it is (just about) OK
• Wellcome generally isn’t.
• CRC?  Who goes there?

And, of course, the basics are available everywhere.

Or so I thought

I found a product called ‘Rice Crunchies’ (they’re rice crackers from Thailand) in Park’n’Shop, but now they have disappeared from their shelves and are only to be found in CRC, of all places. 

Even basic items are not immune.  Currently, Gala Apples don’t seem to be available anywhere apart from Wellcome (and possibly CitySuper).  What’s that all about, then?

CitySuper itself even managed to be out of stock of one of their ‘own brand’ basic products (oats) for several weeks, which is quite impressively incompetent – especially since they have a label on the shelf saying that they are a ‘best seller’.  Not if they’re out of stock, they’re not.