Major supermarkets in the United States include Wal-Mart, Ralphs, TARGET, COSTCO, ALBERTSONS, VONS, K-MART, and WALGREENS. Large warehouse-style supermarkets are typically located in remote areas, though their prices are quite affordable. Living after immigrating to the U.S. is definitely not as convenient as in China when it comes to grocery shopping (especially before you have a car). There are no morning markets or small community vegetable shops like those in China; you must go to a supermarket to buy groceries, which often requires traveling dozens of kilometers. Furthermore, many American supermarkets do not necessarily offer a wide variety of vegetables, making it difficult to get around in many parts of the U.S. without a car. Since people tend to shop in bulk—buying enough for a whole week—how could you bring it home without a vehicle?
American supermarkets primarily supply Western products, which I simply call mainstream supermarkets. It is certain that mainstream American supermarkets offer a dazzling array of goods. In the spirit of trying out a foreign culture, I have benefited greatly from them. I taught myself how to make pasta simply because I saw all kinds of pasta in the supermarket—long, short, wide, thin, flat, spiral, shell-shaped—along with various flavors of pasta sauce, which immediately sparked my desire to learn. I also enjoy the self-service salad bars in mainstream supermarkets, where all kinds of washed, fresh vegetable salads are neatly categorized in containers. You pick what you like, add your choice of dressing, and finally, pack it in a box to pay and take home.
Because the United States is a nation of immigrants, it brings together almost all races and ethnicities from around the world, with many foreign immigrants and expatriates. This has led to the formation of specialty stores from many countries to meet the diverse needs of these expatriates. Compared to these mainstream supermarkets, I prefer supermarkets run by Asians, such as those owned by Koreans, and of course, those run by Chinese. At Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown, I can buy Lao Gan Ma chili sauce. Asian supermarkets carry many specialty foods that are not found in mainstream supermarkets. Some of these specialty foods are imported from various Asian countries, such as the aforementioned Lao Gan Ma or Korean kimchi. Others are produced locally in the U.S.: these fall into two categories—one is Asian specialty products produced by Asian-owned factories in the U.S., such as the overwhelming variety of frozen dumplings in Chinese supermarkets; the other is products produced by authentic American factories, such as pork liver, pork kidneys, pork intestines, and chicken feet—foods that Americans generally do not touch but that Chinese people love.
Although items in Chinese-run supermarkets are relatively cheaper, the vegetables are not as thoroughly cleaned, and meat that is not sold on the day it is stocked may continue to be sold later. In contrast, American-run supermarkets are quite different from Chinese ones; their management is very standardized. Vegetables are sold as pre-cleaned produce, and meat that is not sold on the day it is stocked is discarded rather than kept for sale. Naturally, the prices of goods in these supermarkets are higher than in those run by Chinese.
When living in the U.S., the prices of vegetables and meat are basically close to those in China. With the rapid rise in domestic prices in China, even when converted at an exchange rate of 1:6.2, the prices of American goods are not actually much more expensive. Unlike students who arrived a few years ago and whose first reaction was that things in the U.S. were very expensive, the more common sentiment heard now is friends returning to China complaining that they can no longer afford things in China, which only makes one marvel at the rapid pace of China's economic development!
In addition, returning goods in the U.S. is quite convenient; you can return anything you are not satisfied with. The service attitude is also excellent, and you can return items as long as it is within a certain period (though you must keep the receipt). When buying items, they will help you bag them by category. Every time we shop, we are amazed at how many bags they give us (though some cities, such as Los Angeles, have started to ban plastic bags). At checkout, there are express lanes for small items for quick service. After paying with an ATM card at the supermarket, you are often asked if you want "cash back." At first, you might find it strange—why would you get money back when buying things? It turns out this is a cash withdrawal service provided by the supermarket. You can shop and withdraw cash at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.
A major characteristic of consumption in the U.S. is taxation. You must pay additional tax on any goods you purchase or any consumption you engage in. For example, you pay tax on a meal, on a pair of shoes, and even on a McDonald's order. General merchandise is taxed at around 6%, with the highest tax rates reaching up to 15%. This means that if a pair of shoes is priced at $100, you will pay $106 at checkout. These taxes are paid to the state or local government, and tax rates vary by state. In China, you also pay taxes, but the difference is that in China, you only see the final price, whereas in the U.S., the tax is listed separately. However, food purchased at supermarkets is tax-exempt.