Good E-Mart Karma!

E-Mart is sort of like South Korea's Super Target mixed with a classy department store.  The story I've gotten from a few Koreans is that it used to be WalMart, and this is the only country that it couldn't compete because you can buy things so cheaply in Korea, and people are such bargain hunters, that WalMart went out of business.  I was even told that Koreans banded together and stopped shopping at WalMart so that it would have to close. 

Anyway you put it, E-Mart is 3 floors of shopping insanity, and in our 10 days in Korea, Kyle and I have been there 8 of those days stocking up on things.  Yesterday was a pretty particularly great shopping day there, and I'll explain why...

I got out of class at 3:30, one of my early days, and I had 4 hours before Kyle got off work, so I was headed to shop, hang out, and cook dinner.  May sound strange, but I was really excited for that.  After not having a place of my own the past year+, having a home again is amazing.

Step One
So, step one getting to E-Mart is getting a shopping cart.  You have to make a deposit of 100 Won (US$.08) to unlock a cart from the other carts.  My trouble was, Kyle usually carries the coins, because I like to leave my change at home.  So I show up there, no coins, and luckily happen to arrive as there are only 2 shopping carts left, and a woman is unlocking the last locked cart.  Which means, as she takes the last locked one, I there is one cart left loose, and I can walk off with it - no coin needed!  So super lucky!

Step Two
Step two of E-Mart is locking up any bags in the lockers, which also costs 100 Won that I don't have.  It just so happens that as I'm walking through the entrance into E-Mart, the guards are changing duties, and I'm able to hide my bag under my jacket!  So super lucky again!

Here are some random E-Mart moments


Shopping Finds
We can get pretty much everything we need from E-Mart from food to wine to a toilet scrubber and yoga mat.  I finally did the thorough walk down every aisle of the food area, and here are some of the amazing things I found:



Yep, Koreans love Spam.  I've not verified this, but I think it's a Korean War food ration sort of thing that people acquired a taste for.  People consider it delicious food, and I've heard stories of expensive US$100 Spam gift packages being given at Christmas time.














The grocery store is filled with people offering samples of everything from pork to danishes, and this woman is sampling sweet, fruit flavored soy milk for kids to take in lunches.  Note the leggings.  They're like fabric t-shirt sleeves for your legs.












Peanut Butter AND hispanic Peanut Butter!  Part of being in Asia right after being in Latin America is that I'm looking for bits of hispanic culture everywhere.  The one on the left is called Creamosa - mantequilla de cacahuate.  I took home the Super Chunky myself.  About $4 & worth it.





A few other funny things:



Last thing I see when leaving E-Mart?  Cute puppies!

Three Cheers for E-Mart!