E-Mart

Okay, so we have been dying to visit a Target or Wal-Mart since we got here. I am having withdrawals for some good indoor shopping. Not the “let’s pop a tent up outside on the sidewalk and sell some hats” shopping experience. Plus the kids, especially Benjamin, have been begging for a pet fish. So I did some research and discovered that the Wal-Mart that we visited the last time we lived in Korea is no longer around (the company shut down all stores and left in 2002) and they were bought out by Shinsegae, a company that owns stores called E-Mart. Sounds slightly familiar, huh? So we went out on another shopping adventure. It was just across the road from the Costco (from the previous posting), so we knew where we were going. We went into the parking garage and parked our little car. When we went up the moving sidewalk/escalator to the entrance of the store, we spotted the shopping carts all lined up. So we went to get one (cause you never know what you might need to buy, right?) and discovered they were all chained together. After a little tugging and looking, standing back and looking some more, we discovered you have to put in a 100 won coin to get them released from their chains. Since this equates to about seven cents (saved you the effort of doing the conversion on this one), we decided to go ahead and splurge. As soon as we walked into the store, it was like being in a department store back in the States (except all the products were Korean). The store was sort of a “Super E-Mart” (forgive the pun), since it also had a supermarket, so we got to walk around and see all the different foods for sale. We found that the store did have a small pet section with aquarium fish, not to mention a baby hedgehog and Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles. We are still not sure if those would be illegal to bring back with us. We did not buy any fish because we thought Benjamin might like to pick out his own (he was in school). I was also happy because I finally found a coat rack there. I had been trying to find one here, with no luck. We have no closets in the living room or entryway to hang jackets up and I was really tired of looking at them thrown on the back of the chair. It got even better: not only did I find that, but I also found a clothes drying rack. Since our all-in-one washer and dryer takes 4 hours to wash and semi-dry a load of laundry, the clothes are still a little damp at the end of the cycle, so I have to hang some up. It’s far too confusing to try and figure out how to dry them just a little longer (if you would like, this might be a good time to go back and re-read the posting below on “getting settled into our home” where you can see a photo of the washer/dryer panel). So I felt like a princess getting the two things I so desperately needed. We did discover when we were leaving that when you kindly return your cart, your 100 won magically reappears. Maybe Wal-Mart back in the States should consider this method. More people would think twice about stealing a shopping cart if it was going to cost them seven cents! I have to say that I was very impressed with E-Mart and will definitely be going back.