I'm not sure if I'm just a planning nerd or if it's just my Chinese consumerist ways, but I decided that I wanted to check out the new Walmart Supercentre in Stouffville on a Friday night.

As you may be aware, Walmart recently opened three Supercentre locations in Ancaster, London, and Stouffville. They call them "Supercentres" because not only do they have the regular selections that you would expect from a Walmart, but they have an in-store grocery store.

Though many of the "smaller" format Walmarts (irony?) already stock some grocery items-- mostly preserved goods, these Supercentre stores carry everything from produce, meats, deli, bakery. I have seen these Supercentres in many areas when travelling to the US, many of which are often pretty dingy looking. For that reason, I was curious to check out how the Canadian adaptation is compared to the American counterparts.

So after a half-hour drive from Markham, I arrived at the store, which was surrounded by undeveloped land. I guess that doesn't come as any surprise; it's the Walmart way. Find the cheapest land available, and change the urban landscape forever.

Anyways, I can start to see a ring-road retail road structure, and I definitely expect to see other retail pads to be built in the site in the future. Once inside, your first reation is 'Whoa'. Serioysly, there's nothing to say but 'whoa'. It's that big.

The main store arterials are exceptionally wide, and really diminishes that feeling of product claustrophobia that I often get when shopping at the its "nanostores".

The store colour palette in the interior and exterior is very different than the other Walmarts. The store walls are not grey with the infamous red and navy stripes, it has a much more confortable tan colour. The floor tiles similarly are a darker tan colour. The store signage materials are an improvement; there's a bit more colour other than the large black-text on-white-back price signs.

It is my assumption that all the "smaller" stores will also reflect this new colour palette. The new Fairview Park store in Kitchener recently underwent renovations and looks similar to this.

So, how was the experience? Wonderful. You can't stop but say "whoa, it's huge!" It's definitely your one-stop shop for everything that you can possibly need. It was very spacious, and not a bit crowded. Mind you that I was shopping at 11pm in the evening.

So, how was the service? Exceptional. Perhaps it's because the employees are new, and haven't encoutered any real craziness like the other stores. I don't expect the store to get that "crazy", since the store is seriously in the middle of nowhere.

So, how was the prices? Pretty cheap. The general merchandise stuff is the same as the other stores. But the grocery items are undeniably cheap. Perhaps even cheaper than No Frills.

So, the bottom line, would you go there again? No. The experience is great, but seriously, it took me a half-hour to get there. Sure, it's convenient to have all you need to buy under one roof and one bill, but what is the overall benefit? Wouldn't the 30-minute drive to Stouffville actually exceed the time if I were just to go to Markville and head to Loblaws afterwards? Definitely.

Would my decision change when the Scarborough location is built? Maybe. But at the same time, it looks like the competition is fierce. Today, I realized that a Real Canadian Superstore is expected to open in the periphery retail pads at Scarborough Town Centre.

At this time, Wal-Mart has plans to open up to 14 new Supercentres in 2007.

Walmart Canada - [walmart.ca]
Walmart Canada - [wikipedia.org]
Real Canadian Superstore - [superstore.ca]
Real Canadian Superstore - [wikipedia.org]

Here's some election coverage I have been following:

MARKHAM:

• With no surprise, Frank Scarpitti wins with a 83% of total ballots, and takes reign from Don Cousens who stepped down after undergoing a second kidney transplant..


• Incrumbent Alex Chiu retains his seat as councillor of Ward 8-- which its electoral boundaries saw some radical changes.
  
• Incrumbent Khalid Usman for Ward 7, my former ward, ran for York regional councillor in this election but did not make the mark. He placed sixth when the cutoff is the top four. Filling in his shoes in Ward 7 is Logan Kanapathi.
  
• MPP for Markham, Tony Wong, successfully returns to his seat on Regional Council.

TORONTO:

• David Miller, retains his position of mayor. A sure sigh of relief. Hourray for sustainable public transit.


• John Sewell, the author of the planning famous Shape of the City, is defeated by incrumbent Joe Mihevc in Ward 21 St. Paul's. Both candidates had polarized views of the St. Clair ROW, with Mihevic for, and Sewell against.


• CityTV star Adam Vaughan wins in Ward 20 Trinty-Spadina, which was occupied by MP Olivia Chow. His website truly communicates his dedication to consider all the needs of his widely diverse ward.

WATERLOO:

• Brenda Halloran defeats mayoral incrumbent Erb Epp.

VAUGHAN:

• After a naughty mayoral race in a town that is perceived to be quite naughty, Linda Jackson takes down incrumbent Michael Di Biase by a narrow 90 votes.

Toronto Star Election Coverage - [thestar.com]
Spacing Votes - [spacing.ca]

Although there's nothing really productive to write about these days, I still to write about something.

For those who don't know, I treated myself after eight months of work with laptop. I thought this would definitely ring in the new school term with a bang.

Wow, I'm such a geek.

So I bought myself a Dell because at prices like their's, there's seriously no reason not too. Surely, they're not the sexiest laptops, though they're not nasty looking either. The best thing is that it does what it needs to do.

So after a few upgrades to the battery and the wireless card, and being $1000 in the Visa hole, I am a proud owner of a Dell Inspiron 640m (Intel Core Duo T2050). Because Shima named her laptop (Shifty?), I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

Everyone, meet Pickles. Pickles, meet everyone.

Days after I purchased it, Dell released the Core 2 Duos. Bastards. But I guess you can never keep up with technology, so why bother.

At that same time, Tiff tells me about her awful experiences with Dell. I know, me and my timing. Apparently she was a victim of the loss of computer files, after her laptop crashed on her. She had to re-write a paper if I recall correctly.

Touch digital-wood that what happened with Tiff doesn't happen to me. Ah.

So far, I'm enjoying the laptop experience. To be honest, I can't imagine not working on a laptop now. It has definitely become an extension of me, and I almost feel paralyzed without it. After three months, I am impressed with Dell. It's working wonderfully thus far, and their tech support is top notch.

... but if anything does happen, I'm am sure you'll hear about it here.

I have already managed to scratch the laptop surface like mad after just a month of use. So I forked out another $26 for a skin. Here's it is. It looks a bit cheesy-- looked more cool on the website-- but again, I hope will prevent Pickles from further scratches.

Here's a email exerpt of corny but clean jokes I received from Housing and Residences. They're actually quite refreshing to read.

Knock, knock!

Who's there?

Wendy.

Wendy who?

Wendy today. Sunny tomorrow.

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
Nobel.
Nobel who?
No bell, that's why I knocked!

Knock Knock
Who's there !
Bless !
Bless who ?
I didn't sneeze!