The Hanshin Department Store

On Christmas Day my wife and I went to town find a suitable blanket for the bed and just for something to do and the best place to find such items is at one of the many Department Stores. The festive happenings of the 25th of December do not seem to affect the city at all: life continues regardless and probably 80% of the population doesn't even blink an eye over the occasion. X-mas is a western influence that has no real place in Chinese culture and it is only capitalism and a shops hope of selling more goods that little trees appear in windows and jolly lads dressed as Santa's play poor imitation of a "HO HO HO".

Life goes on before and will not stop till Chinese New Year comes around (End of January) and stops the city dead. This is the time for party, for celebration, an excuse to get drunk and a time to give presents.

The Hanshin Department Store and Hi Lai Hotel above
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

So the Department Store on this 25th December was business as usual and filled to overflowing with eager customers. Our first stop was the lower basement, the food court and the coffee shop and the bread shop. The bread shop was a sight to behold and whilst my wife dived in to join the madness I took a backward step for better viewing. This square counter with five or six harried servers and a queue stretching around three sides of it resembled a bee hive at maximum production capacity

Ladies of all shapes and sizes wielded trays loaded with cakes and bread of equal variety, darting in and out of gaps in the queues to pick, snatch or grab a remaining cream bun or jam tart. They pushed and shoved with bulging eyes as the stomach took over common sense and frightened children and embarrassed fathers retired to handy leaning posts on the outside of it all. And the reason for this unusual mad rush would not be apparent to most outsiders so twisted was it in its absurdity. This was not a usual day at the bread shop this was something that needed investigation.

The Hanshin Department Store had that day put on one of their frequent offers. An offer that typically follows this path: If the customer has a store card/visa card and spends two hundred NTD (Four UK Pounds) )in the store, then for ten NTD (20 pence) they can buy some item or other that is on offer for that day only. I have seen in the past such items as mini-drink coolers, canvas boxes for clothe storage, annoying musical boxes that normally get sent to the bin, dinner plates, umbrellas, shopping bags, handy-sized carryon luggage for the plane and pushchairs.

Inside on the Childrens Floor
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

Today's offer of a small white porcelain dish did not spark any enthusiasm in me to join the fray (my wife was coping successfully on our behalf but obviously a third of the population of Kaohsiung had decided that the bread shop was the best place to spend the initial two hundred dollars in.

After I had worn out my leaning post outside of the jumbled mass and after having browsed the bookshop, the supermarket and the toy store my wife eventually returned from the masses. She had with her an assortment of cream cakes, buns and bread and the very important receipt for 200 dollars. And I had originally thought we needed the bread!

From the basement of the Hanshin life became quieter as the clothes floors were breached. Six or seven floors of men's clothes, ladies clothes, casual items, babies/children wear, etc flashed by in silence and this remained until the escalator rising to the ninth floor made its way upwards. And there the hum started and another third of the Kaohsiung population battled to reach the cashiers and the awaiting prize of the day. Queues stretched for miles around this ninth floor, twisting amongst China, pots and pans and cutlery on display and ornaments that just waited to be hit. Ladies shoved and twisted adeptly to join middle of queues rather than the ends, actual shoppers gave up any attempts to browse, and fathers and children took up similar leaning posts on the outside, trying to pretend that they were not there at all..

On this day the store had organized the event very efficiently and patrol assistants directed and organized the four separate queues with unusual skill and enthusiasm. So on this fine day the time spent in a queue was only ten minutes and before long and after presenting the Visa or Store card, the receipt for 200dollars and the other ten dollar coin a porcelain tray was in hand. And that was that or it should have been.

It seems that the last third of kaohsiung population did not want a porcelain tray, did not have time to come for a porcelain tray, did not have the 200dollars to spend on cream cakes or were too busy celebrating Christmas at home. But this one third of the population had given their store cards to others more determined or financially secure and so the day at the store had not quite finished. My wife had borrowed another store card from a friend and before I could suggest us leaving the place she had rejoined the back of the queue in preparation for obtaining a second porcelain tray that I am sure we did not need. It seems that the store does not allow one person to present more than one store card at any one time, thus the reason for re-entry into the hustle and bustle.

Whilst looking around for another post to lean on and for the subsequent return of my wife with the second porcelain tray I noted one family who had taken life to extremes. The elder lady had in front of her a large carrier bag with what looked like twenty or more of these recently acquired "gifts", the father was organizing what looked like a hundred or more store cards into those that had been used and those that had not and the daughters and sons were doing the leg work. This leg-work involved the rejoining of queues, the presentation of store cards, receipts and the token ten dollars before returning to mother with the tray and used-up store card.

I puzzled over this one and tried to see how it would work out economically for this family. If they owned a restaurant then one hundred porcelain trays might prove to be useful. But to get one hundred porcelain trays then 20,000 NTD (333 UK Pounds) must be spent on goods or rather 200 NTD (3.33UK Pounds) must be spent 100 times to get 100 receipts for 200 NTD 3.33 (UK Pounds). So prior to this collection process on the upper floor the family must have spent hours at the bread shop going round and round in circles buying bread that they would probably never eat. Or maybe they went to the supermarket and bought 250 jars of jam - one costs about 80 NTD (1.33 UK Pounds - or some other food item that they can sell in the restaurant.

I could go on all day trying to work this one out but I really do not think I will ever know the answer. Anything that one buys in a Department Store can be bought elsewhere for a third less. And believe it or not a similar tray could be had for thirty NTD (50 Pence) in the night market and 100 wholesale for 15 NTD (25 Pence). This is definitely a cultural thing, not an economic or sensible one.

Our next stop after the Hanshin was the Sogo Department Store, probably the most well known and the largest chain in Taiwan. Here though life was at a standstill with a desultory lad dressed as Santa falling asleep at the door and a few bored assistants polishing their nails.

Meandering along and around the morgue-like twelve floors of Sogo we came across not one other shopper, no wanderers or customers to brighten up the store. This place resembled a morgue.

Today: Sogo did not have any free offers.

Whilst leaving this barren and desolated store I picked up a leaflet at the door. It informed me that on the 26th December they had a free offer for visa/store card holders. If you spend 150 NTD then a "FREE", once in a lifetime offering of a Tintin cushion can be had - just pay another five NTD and it is yours for FREE.

My wife and I are going to Sogo tomorrow!