When I was a little boy in Oregon we had a store called Coronet. It was about fifteen minutes from the other, smaller town where my grandma lived. My grandma often referred to this place as a "variety store," and maybe that's what it was. Maybe Carrefour, RT Mart and A.Mart are also variety stores. I'm not sure.
Coronet, by the way, was eventually killed off by Fred Meyer, Oregon's biggest retailer. In case you're not from the Pacific Northwest, Fred Meyer is an upmarket version of Walmart. Fred Meyers are more of an urban thing where I'm from, while Walmarts tend to be found outside of major cities.
Wikipedia says: "Fred Meyer is a chain of hypermarket superstores." In the Walmart entry it goes on to say: "Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, or other businesses."
OK then, hypermarkets. Or superstores. Or supercenters. Whatever they're called, Carrefour, RT Mart and A.Mart are the Taiwanese version of Walmart. Or Fred Meyer. Or the Great Canadian Superstore. Anyway, you get the picture.
Those living in Taiwan for any length of time will at some point visit an RT Mart, a Carrefour or an A.Mart. They're big, multi-level stores (sorry, superstores) that sell everything from broccoli to floor mats for your car. A lot of what they sell is made in Mainland China, and a lot of what they sell is of relatively low quality. Every city has several of these stores (sorry, superstores), and they're always in (or adjacent to) an area with high population density.
In Pingtung there are two Carrefours, both located in Pingtung City. These two Carrefours, both about an hour away from where I live, are the closest superstores to my house. There are of course other superstores in Kaohsiung City, which is just a little further west.
Superstores (or hypermarkets, or supercenters) are a fact of city life. If you live anywhere near Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung City, Hualien City or Taitung City you're bound to wind up inside of one eventually. In Taitung City we did about 50% of our grocery shopping in either Carrefour or RT Mart, with the other 50% done in various local markets. When we lived in Taichung and Hsinchu we spent an even greater percentage of time shopping in superstores. In Pingtung County I find myself far away from any superstore, but I do visit the Carrefour south of Pingtung Train Station occasionally.
Carrefour, by the way, is up for sale. I read somewhere that the Fubon Investment Group was going to buy it, but then heard from a friend that whoever owns PX Mart was the purchaser. Does the Fubon Investment Group own PX Mart? I do know that PX Mart recently absorbed the Jason supermarket chain. Would PX Mart even want to buy Carrefour?
I could probably research these things, but it's Thursday, I'm kinda busy, and I'm honestly not that interested. One company gobbles up another, and is in turn gobbled up by another company, which was perhaps part of the first company, or is an entirely different company altogether. Who knows? I take nothing in the world of corporations at face value.
And in case you're curious, I looked up some more facts. Don't worry, I didn't strain myself doing so. There are 68 Carrefour hypermarkets (not counting their smaller supermarkets) in Taiwan. New Taipei City has the most, at 12. There are 22 RT Marts in Taiwan, and New Taipei City also has the most of those, at 5. There are 15 A.Marts (formerly known as Geant, even more formerly known as Hyper) in Taiwan, with New Taipei City and Taichung tied at three apiece.
Which one do I favor? It depends on what I'm buying, and where I am. In Pingtung I go to Carrefour because that's all there is. In Taitung I divide my time between Carrefour and RT Mart. It's more of a hassle to drive to the Taitung City Carrefour from our apartment near the Taitung Train Station, but Carrefour usually has more things that we'd consider buying. Conversely, it's much easier to drive to the Taitung RT Mart from our apartment, but they usually have fewer things we'd consider buying.
A.Mart? I haven't been to one in ages. I went there a lot when we lived in Taichung and Hsinchu, but I haven't lived that far north since 2006.
It's funny to think about it now, but I can still remember my first visit to a superstore in Taiwan, more than 22 years ago. I was beyond tired, I'd gotten off the plane from the States hours before, and my soon-to-be coworker was dragging me through one of the Taichung Hypers, grilling me over daily essentials I might need. At the end of that excursion I only bought a bottle of shampoo and a T-shirt. I then begged her to take me home, where I fell into a fitful sleep soon after.
In 2022 I still visit those places, and while I'm there I either stand dolefully behind my wife as she compares laundry detergent prices, or I wait for my daughters to work their way through the book section. Occasionally - very occasionally - I even get to drag a new arrival into one of the superstores - someone as fresh off the plane as I was in 1999 - and I can't help but get a kick out of their reaction to both the similarities and the differences between their country's superstores and those in Taiwan.
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NOTE: Hey, what about Costco? What about Ikea? What about B&Q? To be sure, all of these places are also superstores, but there are important differences between them and the three more prevalent superstore chains described above.
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