PARKnSHOP

PARKnSHOP (zh-c|百佳) is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong (the other is Wellcome Supermarket). ParknShop operates more than 260 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China.

PARKnSHOP was acquired by Hutchison Whampoa in 1973 when Hutchison Whampoa was chaired by Douglas Clague. For a decade the store remained a local retailer until the mid-1980s when it began to expand outside Hong Kong. The PARKnSHOP concept mimics the larger supermarket layout found in North America. It sells both Chinese merchandise and imported western goods. PARKnSHOP is a member of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.

Locations

Hong Kong

PARKnSHOP has more than 200 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong. [cite web | title =Company Overview | url =http://www1.parknshop.com/WebShop/CompanyOverview.do | accessdate =2007-06-30] PARKnSHOP opened the first Superstore (超級廣場) in Hong Kong in 1996 in Whampoa Garden Phase 12 with a floor space of 4 200 m². The first PARKnSHOP Megastore (購物廣場) opened in 2002 in Metro City Tseung Kwan O with a floor space of 6 700 m².

A.S. Watson Group also operates a number of supermarkets under different brand names that target higher-income consumers. There is one Great supermarket located at Pacific Place, one Gourmet supermarket at Lee Gardens, and Taste supermarkets at Festival Walk (Kowloon Tong), Citygate (Tung Chung), Stanley Plaza (Stanley), Hopewell Centre (Wan Chai), East Point City (Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O), Maritime Square (Tsing Yi), Olympian City 2 (Tai Kok Tsui), Metroplaza (Kwai Fong, Kwai Chung) and TMTplaza (Tuen Mun). In 2007, another brand, International by PARKnSHOP, was introduced at Happy Valley, Hong Lok Yuen, United Centre at Admiralty and Cyberport which specializes in organic foods.

ParknShop's higher-income stores are billed as a "lifestyle" food stores and stock a large variety of imported goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables and many nonfood items. The upmarket stores were launched in November, 2004, when the existing convert|35000|sqft|m2|sing=on PARKnSHOP store located at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong was rebranded. It is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to midnight.

Mainland China

PARKnSHOP opened its first mainland China store in Shekou in 1984, making the chain the first foreign retailer to enter the mainland Chinese market. The chain's first mainland superstore opened in 2000 and its first mainland megastore followed in 2001 in the Tianhe district of Guangzhou. There are now more than 40 ParknShop stores in northern and southern China, including locations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan.

Generic products

PARKnSHOP sells products under a generic brand, under its own "private label" (百佳牌) and the other under a "Best Buy" branding (超值牌).

Controversy

Labour outsourcing

The PARKnSHOP chain, including the rebranded Taste superstore in Kowloon Tong, dismissed 525 employees in April 2005, when the company outsourced the labour for its fresh foods counter; most of the employees were dismissed just before the Chinese New Year in 2006. The aggrieved employees included many low-paid workers of longtime service. The employees' labor union complained that although 90% of the dismissed workers were rehired at the same position as before, their wages were lowered (some reportedly by as much as 44%), and their working hours were increased from 10 to 12 hours by the outsourcing subcontractor. The resulting average hourly rate was HK$18. [cite web
last = Wong
first = Ching
title = PARKnSHOP Outsourcing adds insult to injury
publisher = U-Beat magazine Chinese University of Hong Kong
month = April | year = 2006
url = http://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/ubeat/060474/supermarket.html
accessdate = 2007-03-25 zh icon] .

Mislabelling fiasco

In January 2007, PARKnSHOP was involved in a food scare in which the supermarket was accused of having mislabeled oilfish and sold it as the more expensive codfish. The scare broke out after the Centre for Food Safety of Hong Kong had received complaints from 14 people who fell ill after consuming oil fish said to have been wrongly labeled as codfish by, and sold at, PARKnSHOP as well as its rival Wellcome Supermarkets.

ParknShop blamed the Indonesian authorities for its inconsistent translation among the Indonesian, English and scientific names of the product.cite news
last = Kim
first = Caroline
title = ParknShop says certificate wrongly named fish
date = January 30, 2007
publisher = Hong Kong Standard
url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=37169&sid=11958222&con_type=1&d_str=20070130&sear_year=2007
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] The Indonesian consul in Hong Kong stated that oilfish caught in Indonesia is not destined for human consumption, but is exported only for use as an industrial lubricant to countries including Australia, Canada and Japan. A Consumer Council spokesman for the case said that "a professional buyer [should] know right away, based on the price and appearance of the fish, that something's wrong despite the erroneous translation".cite news
last = Chung
first = Carol
title = Label mistake revealed in oilfish saga
date = January 29, 2007
publisher = Hong Kong Standard
url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=37098&sid=11946643&con_type=1&d_str=20070129&sear_year=2007
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ]

Notes

ee also

* City'super
* Wellcome Supermarkets

External links

* [http://www1.parknshop.com/WebShop/Home.do Official site of PARKnSHOP]
* [http://www.aswatson.com/eng/retail_fegm_221_pshhk.htm PARKnSHOP on A.S. Watson website]