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Seoul'n'Corea
Joined: 06 Nov 2008
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 Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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E-mart is fine.
They have everything i need!! Prices are up right now, that i know.
Prices are pretty good.
I have even bought frozen pink Salmon there to make roast Salmon for
my GFs parents. |
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vampirepirate01
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: Incheon, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| sojourner1 wrote: |
| They're just trying to create jobs by having an excessive amount of sales people on the floor since the high prices supports the business quite well. I've never seen a store like Emart where so many sales people just stand around in the way and not even have a job to do. |
Have you ever been Lotte Mart? They do the same thing except they are dressed like they are in a speed racer cartoon. |
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sojourner1
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
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| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Seoul'n'Corea wrote: |
E-mart is fine.
They have everything i need!! Prices are up right now, that i know.
Prices are pretty good.
I have even bought frozen pink Salmon there to make roast Salmon for
my GFs parents. |
They must have a bigger Emart in Seoul that carries everything, because the stores I know of outside of Seoul severly lack. I never see salmon for sale in an Emart, but HomePlus carries 500 gram packs of wild Alaskan salmon for 10,000 won that is just great quality. Emart tends to specialize in all that bad tasting NE Asia ocean fish like mackeral with yellowish/brown/gray meat that reaks of pollution like commonly seen outdoor markets. Mackeral from other parts of the world is a delicious white meat fish. While the mackeral here appear to be the same species, the ocean really is fouled up here due to severe industrial pollution; mostly from China dumping raw waste and sewage directly through their East coast. I always loved to eat fish and seafood until I came here. I guess the locals don't know what's going on and eat it anyhow. Emart tends to be a corporate version of regular Korean markets instead of being something more modern offering a huge variety of goods from around the world like we'd expect out of a big box corporate store.
They sure could do better, but I'm sure it's the most bountiful market Korea ever had in its' entire history. Maybe what seems to me to be a rediculous selection at rediculous prices seem fair enough to Koreans since historically they had so very little. You can bet nearly all the older people and even middle age adults didn't know where their next bite to eat was to come from while they were growing up, becuase this land and their small scale agriculture is not productive enough to support millions of people. There just never was much food and other resources here.
Last edited by sojourner1 on Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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tefain
Joined: 19 Sep 2007
Location: Not too far out there
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| vampirepirate01 wrote: |
| sojourner1 wrote: |
| They're just trying to create jobs by having an excessive amount of sales people on the floor since the high prices supports the business quite well. I've never seen a store like Emart where so many sales people just stand around in the way and not even have a job to do. |
Have you ever been Lotte Mart? They do the same thing except they are dressed like they are in a speed racer cartoon. |
Oh yes, I had a friend who worked there and I was waiting for them to get off work. I watched as they all lined up to listen to the announcements at the end of the day, massive number of workers. I just got in from Homeplus and it's pretty much the same way there too. |
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kiteflyer
Joined: 27 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Homeplus recently pulled their Sonic care toothbrushes. I imagine it's due to he higher currency exchange rate. |
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Gamecock
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Why don't you just shop Homeplus or Costco? Well, there's no locations within 5 hours of my location however I do have 2 Emarts 2 to 2.5 hours of me. |
I couldn't read through all the pages of this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating what someone else has said. Yes there is a Homeplus closer to you. You just need to find out where it is. There is probably one closer to you than E-mart. They cater to small cities and more rural areas.
I live about as far away from everything as humanly possible in Korea (5 hours from Seoul and 3 hours from Busan), and there is a homeplus 35 minutes away and 1 hour away respectively. While not fantastic, I find it has a much better selection of foreign goods than E-mart. |
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MrRogers
Joined: 29 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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Gamecock:
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| (5 hours from Seoul and 3 hours from Busan) |
I am about the same distance; the Homeplus I go to does not have ANY foreign things that I am looking for whereas Emart might have one or two |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| 10) Mispriced items almost daily |
don't know if anyone mentioned this but if they scan a mistake they have to give you a gift certificate for 5,000W |
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seosan08
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| I WISH they had an EMart here! We have an old, really small Lotte Mart that doesn't even sell block cheese! Shopping is terrible here! |
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cangel
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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| They're supposed to give you a coupon for W5000 if they misprice and item? Well, add "screwing the foreigner" to my list of rants because I have had dozens of mispriced ring-ups and never once received a coupon. The checkout woman is probably enjoying that little reward. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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| you have to take it to the customer service or something like that to get it. My friends always check the receipts after we pay to look for mistakes and that is what they've told me. I'll see if I can get some more info for you. |
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Crockpot2001
Joined: 01 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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Several have mentioned that the market drives selection and I agree. It does make a statement about the narrow consumer trends of the Koreans.
I think the suckiest part of E-mart and several other retailers is the stupid 4 swiveling casters on the carts. This makes them HARDER to maneuver. My knees hurt after shopping at E-mart using those carts. |
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steroidmaximus
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: GangWon-Do
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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Emart is overpriced and the quality of all their fruits and vegetables is questionable. I don�t care to recall how many times we�ve brought fruits or veggies home only to have to burn out a nasty fruit fly infestation 2-3 days later. Now I try to buy my fruits and veggies at the local markets or out of the back of some guy�s truck. 1500 Won for broccoli at emart? Screw that I can buy 2 for a chonwon from some grandma at the shijjang.
Emart is way better than when I first got here, and I kinda miss the trips to Seoul to buy cheese and sausage and imported beer that you ate on the train back giggling like fools. . . but within the last 2-3 years, all chains have been cutting back on their foreign goods selection. I really think this is about limiting choices and not giving people an idea that maybe there is something else out there to eat besides Dwenjjang and Spam, or other things to drink than Hite and soju.
Emart was owned by a Samsung subsidiary, Sinsaegae, then spun off with CJ Foods a few years back. If you look closely at what products are offered, you�ll find a larger selection of Samsung / Samsung subsidiary produced stuff. There is no real free market here, it�s all about keeping it in the family, remember that.
I�m pretty sure Costco Korea is also partly owned by Samsung. They only accept Samsung credit cards in any event.
Privateer wrote:
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Does Walmart sell ddok or laver or kimchi? Only if there's a market for it.
There's a whole industry devoted to researching which demographics prefer which products, because you have to understand the local market before you know what to put on the shelves. Why is this so hard to understand? Why are there recurrent threads complaining about Korean supermarkets?
Honestly, do you think immigrants in America complain that the supermarkets are 'backward' because they don't stock the foods their mothers used to cook??
You want foreigner foods, you go to the foreigner supermarkets like the Indian one in Itaewon. |
Some have already stated this, but at a superstore about 50 kms out of Halifax, I can buy Kimchi, sticky rice, laver, and many other international foods. Emart and many of the chains used to carry at least a small selection of international items, but that selection has been getting smaller over the last few years. I doubt this has anything to do with the current economic crisis but more of a support your local business at the expense of the consumer mentality. Probably more to do with the fact that westerners are generally more open minded and think a variety of different foods is actually healthier and more beneficial for your state of mind. Stores that don�t stock any number of international food items generally don�t do as well.
Dmbfn wrote:
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| Really, I understand your points. However, what you should do is make a once a month tirp to the International Supermarket in Hanam (right next to the Volvo building) and stock up on what you want |
What, those two stores that stock mostly Costco items at a 150% markup? Don� t think so. Going there once or twice a year to buy some specialty beer, a turkey, chocolate or lasagna noodles is sufficient. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:36 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, of course, EMart sucks. And LotteMart-uh sucks, and HomePlus sucks. And GMarket sucks.
Why?
Because you are in Korea.
Limited selection and inflated prices are the very essence of being in Korea, of being Korean.
EMart's not all that much worse. It's truly amazing how much alike the major stores are. There is a little bit of difference, but not as much as you would expect.
That said, some of the people running Emart are not all that smart. Which can turn to your advantage, on rare occasions. I found half bottles (375ml) of cabernet sauvignon 2006 for 1,000 won each. OK, it is from Argentina, but I doubt it would taste that much different (at that price range) from France. And the bottle has a cork.
What happened? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe someone tasted it, and when it didn't taste like sweetened grape juice, they assumed it had gone bad.
I am drinking it right now, and can say it is excellent. And it sure as shooting beats the pants off swilling soju. |
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mysterious700
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:46 am Post subject: |
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Try this site: it's run by Costco. It is a home delivery site. Use your local education office if you are unsure about delivery to your house while at school. (Or use your school if you only teach at one.)
http://www.ezshopkorea.com/ |
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