Catshanghai

Today I went on a long walk from Luwan to shake off the cobwebs and to enjoy the onset of mild weather. Spring has finally got the better of winter and it’s the weekend so I set myself a mission to become what Oscar Wilde described as a cynic, someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. With this in mind, I marched over to Best Buy in Xiujiahui (1077 ZhaojiaBang Lu, just before Metro City) to continue my quest to price check a selection of mainstream and bleeding edge electronic gadgets.

Best Buy is quite well merchandised, although some commodity items like USB memory sticks are located in bizarre, difficult to find places. The staff will help you if you ask them, but they will leave you alone if you are just browsing. This will make Best Buy very attractive to many foreigners even if the prices are more expensive than other places. I bumped into a friend who likes having the peace of mind that his purchased goods are not fakes. Not all the goods on my list were available, which shows that Best Buy chooses breadth over depth. They stock everything from fridge freezers to wireless routers, but don’t expect to find obscure niche technology products such as bluetooth keyboards for smartphones. All but one of the items on my list were more expensive than Hong Kong Plaza.

Here are some prices for electronic items at Best Buy: