I talked with management folks at Walmart and they were absolutely dismayed that Danmairen will not shop there anymore because their entire marketing system is built on satisfying ex-pats! Oh Well!

Carrefour has a "press this button if the checkout queue has more than 5 people in it". I delighted in repeatedly pressing the button the other day until I checked around the back and found it had no connections to anything else. Duh!!

I used to go to Walmart and Carrefour to buy groceries. Then I discovered that I can get everything I need at local shops in my neighborhood. It's quicker and averages out to the same price. Now I limit myself to an occasional Metro run at an off-peak time to pick up spices and imported wine.

I do the Metro run for stuff I cannot get in the local supermarket. And then I fill the freezer.

Meat from the wet market, as long as you buy it in the morning it seems to be OK. Never had food poisoning from the wet market.

Veg from the wet market or from farmers at the side of the road.

I hate when I'm going to buy something and it turns out that the barcode is wrong or missing. At least in western supermarkets they call some fuwuyuan to go and get the same product with the correct barcode. But here they just say "can't buy, no barcode". If you really need it you have to go yourself and pick it up. A pain in the ass.
So many fuwuyuan doing nothing and they can't even do that.

I happened once with the same product 2 times. It was a present and I was leaving early next day. For the girl it was funny. The 3rd time I had to contain myself and luckily she managed to get it work.

I also find Carrefour much better. But Wal-mart is very close. Luckily I don't need to go there often.

If it's difficult to find diet drinks in KM, and there is demand for it, why waste a good business opportunity?

I haven't been to a Wally World in KM, but I used to go to the one in Dali a few years ago. That one seemed fairly well taken care of with nice staff. But I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the merchandise, which is not like what a north american walmart carries at all. The one in Dali just carries typical junk you could find anywhere else but with lousy products. In Dali it can be nice to have sometimes if you need something right away and can't wait for a Taobao purchase to arrive. But Dali is a small city and there are less choices. If I lived in KM I don't know if I'd bother with Walmart.

Sugared drinks actually make you more thirsty, something to do with the way it is absorbed into the body. I learned this one in Africa, the hard way.

It is not a diet thing for most people. And it is not unreasonable. I know there has been a fight with Coke due to the amount of fake product Kunming.

I did learn that Metro (in my last city) would run out of Diet Coke for months at a time. And so when I did see it I would buy a couple of cases.

Food hygiene.
I think they are all as bad as each other.

I suggest than you watch that episode of "South Park" called "Something Walmart this way comes"....

What might be worse about reading a complaint about Wal-Mart in Kunming, China is that I clicked on the forum and read through the comments. I'm dumbstruck... Wal-Mart is a perfect example of how corporate crap vending is putting small businesses out of business...just like in America. To be a little over the top provocative, but, can't we laowai support smaller businesses here? Must we flock to the familiar? Is there another sugarless drink out there besides Coke zero or Diet Pepsi? Why did you come to China? Sheesh, I'm preaching. Sorry...I think...