Australia has both K-Mart and Target. However, I am not sure who owns K-Mart, but the Australian Target is in no way, shape, or form affiliated with the American-based (Wud up, Minnesota!?!) chain. It's funny though, because everything at Target is red and they even have the bullseye logo. However, I do not think they have that adorable little dog representing their brand, as we do in the States.
The nearest K-Mart and Target are located in the Northland Shopping Centre. It's a twenty minute bus ride from where I live. The stores are both similar to the U.S. stores in the sense that they are "general" type of stores. The stores here, however, are physically smaller and have a much smaller selection than their U.S. counterparts (then again, having an enormous store with a seemingly limitless selection of goods is a very American thing... in all my travels, I find it safe to say that the United States offers more products than anywhere else in the world... which begs another question:
How many different varieties of cereal, yogurt, toilet paper, etc. does one really need access to in the first place?)
K-Marts and Targets in Australia have clothes, beauty products, electronics, books, some groceries, kitchen appliances, etc. like we do in the States. K-Marts and Targets in Australia do not have cafes, pharmacies, grocery stores, photography labs, MinuteClinics, and Optometry Clinics. (Side bar: Am I missing anything from that list? Considering how much time I spend at Target back in the States, I would assume that I have covered it all.)
Anyway, I've taken some photos for your viewing pleasure:
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Like most stores here, if you want a "trolley," you need to deposit a $1 coin in the lock slot to unlock the trolley. When you put the key back into the chain of trolleys, you get your dollar back. It's hard to tell from the picture, but carts here (like in most of the world) are much, much smaller than in the States. This is something that always gets me when I return to the States after living abroad or traveling for a long period of time abroad: American shopping carts are HUGE!!!
(Sorry, you'll have to turn your head sideways for a better look: apparently blogger doesn't let you rotate photos???) |
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| I love the English-looking hats. I'm going to try and bring this style to America. |
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| They've got Father's Day here, but it is in September. |
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| Good old Layby (or what Americans would call Layaway.) The layby option is available in most stores in Australia. |
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| Well... couldn't get any worse... |
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| I take that last statement back. Yes, it can get worse and it did. Watermelon flavoured margs?!?! Blech! |
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| They also offer gummy worms, but I can't quite tell the difference between snakes and worms. |
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| Who else loves the old school logo besides me? |
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| Narrow, shorter aisles. I think the aisles are only about 6 and a half feet tall. |
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| I love this, for nostalgic purposes alone. I remember the yarn aisle of K-Mart from when I was a kid. I think when I worked at K-Mart in the late nineties, yarn was just being removed from the product line, as less people were buying it. |
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| Serious sun protection is the protocol! |
Ha! Very cool. I love to see the differences in places I visit often. We Americans need the extra space in the carts and aisles.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I think you might be missing from the list, is that many Targets here have Starbucks in them (along with the cafes).
Good call on the Starbucks! I had forgotten about that!
ReplyDeleteAustralia actually has very few Starbucks. I think Melbourne only has two, citywide. Reason being? There was already a coffee culture here in place before Starbucks had even existed. I have yet to have a "bad" cup of coffee in this town... it's pretty awesome!
Melbourne has a very large number of Italian immigrants/citizens of Italian ancestry. The Italian district of this city is filled with great cafes and restaurants. The Italian food here is definitely as good as it is in Italy, in my opinion.
Ah, put me down for "love" on the old-school K-logo as well...
ReplyDeleteKMart and Target are both owned by Coles-Myer here. I know. WTF? They have no relation to their US namesakes, who sold the brands. My cousin (in law) used to work as an events manager for Target in Mpls, and said that apparently it was a pretty sore point for the execs there.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a heap of Starbucks in Aus until 2008 when Sbux almost went belly-up in the US. When they closed all those stores nationwide, they also closed a lot of their int'l locations. It was 3 years ago (almost to the day - it was the end of Sept). Canberra had 4, even some in Hobart I think(!) and there were millions in Syd and lots in Melb too. It was a sad day for me, as going out for a hot chocolate was a good outing with newborn Erik. And so now there are a handful in Sydney and Melb, and some in Bris and none anywhere else at all. Melb coffee has always been amazing, and so it was a surprise that Starbucks managed to survive there at all...
Snakes are more of the firm jelly-type than the gummi type (think Swedish fish) and worms are gummi and sour. You must buy some musk lollies. It'll do your head in for sure :-)
You get hats like that in Melbourne in the spring. Spring racing carnival, and it's almost November.
I can't get over how big the trolleys are at Costco, but then I remember that they have to be huge to fit all the oversize packages in them.
I think I had read that somewhere about Kmart and Target both being owned by Coles-Myer... that is so funny! I can't decide if Target has better stuff... I want to say it does, since Target in the U.S. has better stuff than Kmart, but perhaps I'm unable to look at this here without bias! Ha!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember there being more Starbucks at one point, especially in Syd. Ten years ago, I wasn't much of a coffee drinker though, so I definitely did not pay as close attention as I do now. The Starbucks that I do see near Flinders Street Station always seems busy... but I wonder if it contains more tourists than Melburnians. I will need to investigate that eventually.
Thanks for explaining the difference between snakes and worms. I was wondering why there were both! :) And, I will pass on the musk lollies... I've had them before and still can't get the taste out of my mouth! Blech! ;)
It's like the time & space continuum has been compromised and Target and KMart are hearkening back to the late 90s. I love the yarn selection, and the hats! Oh the hats!
ReplyDeleteBtw, what are musk lollies? That does not sound like a party for the mouth.