PARKnSHOP

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It has been suggested that Taste (supermarket) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

PARKnSHOP (Chinese: 百佳) is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong. It 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 of Hong Kong. The PARKnSHOP concept mimics the larger supermarket layout found in North America. It sells both local Chinese merchandise and western goods. PARKnSHOP is a member of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.

1 Locations
- 1.1 Hong Kong
- 1.2 China
2 Controversy
- 2.1 Labour outsourcing
- 2.2 Mislabelling fiasco
3 Notes
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Locations

A PARKnSHOP Superstore in Tai Po Mega Mall

[edit] Hong Kong

PARKnSHOP has more than 220 stores and 9,000 staff in Hong Kong. PARKnSHOP opened the first Superstore (超級廣場) in Hong Kong in 1996 in Whampoa Garden Phase 12 with a size of 4,200 m². The first PARKnSHOP Megastore (購物廣場) opened in 2002 in Metro City Tseung Kwan O, 6,700 m².

A.S. Watson Group also operates some supermarkets with different branding targeting at upper-income consumers. There is one "great" supermarket at Pacific Place, one "Gourmet" supermarket at Lee Gardens, and two "taste" supermarkets at Festival Walk and Citygate.

[edit] China

PARKnSHOP opened its first store in Shekou in 1984, making PARKnSHOP the first foreign retailer to enter the China market.

The first Superstore opened in 2000 and the first Megastore opened in 2001 in the Tianhe district of Guangzhou. There are now more than 40 outlets in northern and southern China, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan.

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Labour outsourcing

The "PARKnSHOP" supermarket chain, including the re-branded "taste" in Kowloon Tong, dismissed 525 staff in April 2005, when the supermarket outsourced the labour of its fresh food counter; most of the staff were dismissed before the Chinese New Year in 2006.

Aggrieved staff included many low paid staff of long service. The union complained that although 90% of the dismissed staff were re-hired at the same position as before, wages were lowered (some by as much as 44%), and working hours were increased from 10 to 12 hours by the sub-contractor. The resulting hourly rate was HK$18.^[1].

[edit] 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.

The supermarket blamed the Indonesian authorities for its inconsistent translation between the Indonesian, English and scientific version of the names.^[2] The Indonesian consul in Hong Kong stated that oilfish caught in Indonesia is not destined for human consumption, but is only exported for use as industrial lubricants to countries like Australia, Canada and Japan.^[3] Consumer Council spokesman 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".^[3]