Olympic games over but Olympic shopping still popular
August 26, 2008
Beijing store at Wangfujing packed out with souvenir shoppers.
The Olympics were capped off with the spectacular closing ceremony last night. As I no longer had sports action to watch I headed off to the Beijing store to grab some souvenirs.
My wife and I went to Wangfujing which is just down the road from Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. In this popular shopping strip there are two large Olympic souvenir shops. I have to say it was chaos in the two stores.
The stores were packed and with the system they have for buying goods it is not the easiest way to shop. First of all you have to select the item or items you would like to purchase. You then get an order slip for each one. You make your way to the cashier and make your payment. You then return to where you selected your item.
If you buy several non-related items you go from place to place within the store. Then if after all that something else takes your fancy you have to repeat the process. A friend of mine here in Beijing was saying there have been many complaints about the Olympic souvenir shopping experience.
In Sydney during the 2000 Olympics there was a huge store that you could visit to buy souvenirs. I also remember many departments stores also stocked souvenirs. It was a totally different experience.
This is one area I can say was not handled well by the Chinese. In the long run I got what I wanted however it was a difficult process.
Many of the collectable items such as medallions and coins seemed to be quite popular.
Now I have to start looking at what London has to offer.
The people's fireworks on closing ceremony night
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