First it was a travel case and now it is Paddington Bear.

Since moving, we’ve changed our shopping habits.

Two stores compete for our money – the Park ‘n’ Shop and the Wellcome.

There was a Park ‘n’ Shop (generally referred to as the Park ‘n’ Rob) at Discovery Bay and there is also one at Mui Wo. The one at DB has transformed into a Fusion (generally referred to as ConFusion) store. Arguably a much nicer version of the Park ‘n’ Rob with ever inflated prices though this is something the store owners deny.

We had thought the Wellcome was a store catering to the Hong Kong locals. We were wrong.

While its layout resembles a rabbit warren where the rabbit clearly had no sense of direction or understanding of why rice doesn’t typically sit next to toilet paper, or oil next to cat litter, it has a great deal of variety in both Western and Asian style foods.

It also encourages me to collect coupons / stamps for things that I only develop a need for because… I like to collect the stamps.

Initially it was Kappa luggage. I shopped each weekend to collect double stamps and stuck them into the little brochure. The stamps were red suitcases on a silver background and I pasted them over pictures of Paris, London and other scenic shots. In neat little rows, they covered these cities until I had enough for a few pieces of luggage but not the one that I really wanted. So I kept collecting and shopping.

The redemption period is now on and I still don’t have quite enough stamps but I can put some cash toward it. Seems a shame to collect them for so long and not have anything to show for it except one and a half covered brochures. Putting cash towards it also means that I could get something else for free.

Now it is onto Paddington Bear toys. These stamps are stickers of Paddington himself in four different outfits. The collection period started today and I’ve already decided which Paddington Bear I want.

I am a marketer’s dream…

* Thanks to Pink Floyd for the title to this post.