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The Cheapest; Most Expensive! We Sure Have it all in Nanjing!

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Stuff can sure cost a pretty penny in China, but it can also be darned cheap. In one of the Middle Kingdom’s greatest dichotomies, international brand names manufacture in China because it’s cheap, then sell it out the back at prices which make your eyes water.

Forgetting the handbags, let’s talk about the stuff that matters. A litre of halfway-decent milk in Nanjing goes for more than ¥20, three times more than in the UK.

What else do “laowai” like? Bread. That could be ¥3 per SLICE in Nanjing, thank you very much. I can get a whole loaf for that (granted, not a particularly good loaf) from Tesco in the UK.

You like Sushi? Be prepared to fork out as much as ¥13 for one tiny rice-encrusted treat. And that’s not even from a restaurant.

On to the heavyweights. The top pieces of real estate in Nanjing now command a price of ¥80,000 per square metre. That’s right, a “modest” 100 square-metre apartment in Nanjing can now set you back ¥8 million. In most other countries, that’s going to buy you a sizeable castle. And its accompanying super yacht, stable of horses and Instagram account.

But so goes the #1 mantra in China; if it’s not expensive, it’s rubbish.

Time for a return to reality, via a short, sharp, slap across the face.

Bringing us to Hotmaxx, where, by and large, brand-name everyday products are literally half the price of elsewhere.

According to the Hotmaxx website, on which they certainly haven’t wasted any of their scant profit, the discount retailer was founded in February, 2020, to provide consumers with a “cool shopping experience”, where “surprises always happen”.

Second that. How about a standard pack of baby wipes for ¥4.2; Recommended Retail Price (RRP) ¥12.9? Or a 1.25-litre bottle of orange juice for ¥5.0; RRP ¥12?

At the vinous end of things, a bottle of the ever-reliable, Casillero del Diablo, is only ¥49.9; a can of Korea’s preferred beer, Cass, only ¥3.1, less than a third of elsewhere.

Then there are the instant noodles. At Hotmaxx, get a pack of Canton beef-flavour noodles for ¥1.9; RRP ¥4.5. We’ve not seen things that cheap since the International Supermarket Instant Noodle Price War from the turn of the century, when a pack of plain curry-flavour noodles could be had for 2 UK Pence (¥0.2).

Yep, stuff can sure be expensive in China. And how on Earth retailers such as Hotmaxx can possibly turn a profit is beyond us. Enjoy while the moment lasts.

Hotmaxx has 20+ locations in Nanjing. Find one near you by searching “Hotmaxx” in English on the Dianping APP.

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