Non-US dopers: American-brand stores and shops in your country.

I know Kmart and Woolworth operate in Australia, and Safeway in the UK (as well as ASDA which is now owned by Wal-Mart). What are some of the (for lack of a better term) American-style stores you shop at? How do you compare them with a company that doesn’t do business in the US?

Phouchg
Lovable Rogue

Japan.

-The Gap
-Harley-Davidson (shops. They sell some bikes, but most of their business is clothes and other H-D merchandise)
-L.L. Bean
-Several other specialty stores similar to those above
-Costco

Most of the US-based stores operating in Japan right now have a strong brand image, and are able to offset the costs of importing goods and dealing with all the bureaucratic hassles of being a foreign-run business by appealing to brand-conscious shoppers willing to pay a higher price for a well-known name.

The exception to this is Costco (and Carrefour, which is France-based). Rather than having high-priced boutiques in downtown locations like the others, they set up shop far away from the city where they can sprawl out just as they do at home, making their profits through huge volume. A lot of shoppers go to Costco for the lower prices, the merchandise that isn’t available at other stores, and the bulk discounts that other shops don’t offer. The problem for them is that Japan isn’t as much of a car culture as the US, so they still have to locate within reasonable distance of a train station. Even then, bulk items can be awkward to carry home by train and difficult to store in miniature Tokyo apartments. It’s surviving, but not spreading very much.

Wal-Mart has been making noises for the last few years about coming to Japan, but so far nothing’s come of it.

You’ve picked some bad examples. :slight_smile:

Woolworths Ltd is floated on the Australian stock exchange.

Kmart (United States) did own 51 percent in Kmart (Australia) Ltd at some stage. It exchanged this for a stake in Coles Myer Ltd (another Australian company). But currently Kmart (United States) owns nothing in Kmart (Australia) nor in Coles Myer Ltd.

The names may be the same, but there’s nothing American about these stores in Australia.

I’m trying to think of some “American-style” stores I shop at, but I’m coming up blank.

Well, there’s the junk food chains, but they’re really franchises most of the time.

We’ve got Harley Davidson stores that don’t sell motorbikes. We have Timberland stores, Levis stores, Gant stores (I love Gant clothes), Marlboro stores (the clothes, not the cigarettes)…

I don’t think we have any stores in the K-Mart or Costco vein, although I have seen Costcos in England.

As Narrad said, we’ve got as many US franchises and brand names as anywhere in the global village, but American-style stores are pretty thin on the ground.

BTW, apart from the ownership, what’s so different about “American style shops”?

Although the names are the same neither Woolworths or Safeway are owned by American companies. Safeway is in the midst of a takeover battle and one of the contenders is Walmart who already own ASDA. Woolworths are also present in Cyprus but they are much more up-market than the UK chain. In fact thay are more like a main-stream department store on the lines of Debenhams.

When I was in Melbourne in January (I’m from NSW) I noticed all these stores called Safeway, but with the Woolworths logo (green block capitals with red bars above and below the word). What’s the deal? Why has Safeway only spread to Victoria, or not to NSW anyway?

What I’m amazed at is the US chains that haven’t spread to Australia. For instance, as far as clothing goes, it’s very rare to see someone here wearing GAP or Abercrombie + Fitch. Hey, globalisation, you’re letting your game down.

We have Starbucks in Australia and the coffee is crap. I don’t understand the hype.

Incidently, if you’re on the East Coast in the US, there’s a good chance your local supermarket is actually Dutch-owned:

So thans for supporting our economy. :slight_smile:

The funniest example of a franchise I saw was an Outback Steakhouse in Sydney. An American-owned, Australian-themed restaurant in Australia.

:confused:

Loads.

McD
KFC
Hardee’s
Pizza Hut
Dominos
Starbucks
Polo
Calvin Klein
DKNY

We used to have Grand-Mart, but no more.