Lego Gallops into the Year of the Horse

Looking for an activity to horse around? Lego does

Now that 2026 has started, we're already looking towards Chinese New Year which starts February 17!

It will be the Year of the Horse, specifically the fire horse, which promises to bring speed, passion and opportunity.

This afternoon at Costco we spied the latest Lego set promoting the four-legged animal. Called "Galloping Horses Canvas" (C$140), the set features four equines kicking up dust as they run, and in the background is an ink painting. 

It features four horses too in a Chinese painting that is kind of reminiscent of the artist Xu Beihong, who painted horses so well. The ones here, not so much.

Nevertheless, what is cool about the set is that the four horses actually move when you move the crank at the back. 

The set also comes with two figurines, one wearing a horse head, the other a girl, and they are by a table with an ink brush and a scroll with a horse drawn on it and the Chinese character for the animal. 

The Galloping Horses Canvas is one of three New Year-related sets; there's also one called Fortune Firecracker, and another called Fortune Master with the likeness of Choi Sun, the God of Wealth.

That said, this Lego reviewer gave a pretty honest review about the three sets. Might want to watch before you buy...

No More Costco Hotdogs for Non-members

This downtown Costco's food court is outside the warehouse

Costco's downtown on Expo Boulevard is in an excellent location, steps away from the SkyTrain station, across from BC Place and not far from Rogers Arena. What makes this Costco intriguing is that its food court is located just outside the warehouse store, not inside it.

And for years non-members have been taking advantage of the C$1.50 hotdogs with a cup of soda, pizza, chicken strips and poutine.

Non-members like the $1.50 hotdog and drink

It's probably the cheapest fast food around, beating out McDonald's at C$7.69. If you buy a hotdog at Rogers Arena, it will set you back a whopping C$9.49.

One would have thought having the food court outside at that particular location would be a great revenue stream for Costco, with streams of people coming there to get cheap food for a snack, lunch or dinner, but that will all come to an end on August 5.

Signs have gone up outside the Costco entrance, saying that customers will have to show their Costco membership card before being able to purchase items at the food court.

Today the media descended on this Costco location, asking people what they thought of this news and it was divided; members felt it should be a privilege to take advantage of the cheap food, why others who are not members and are on tight budgets are disappointed.

Signs went up today to dismay of non-members

One man interviewed said he came to this outlet two to three times a week for the cheap hotdogs.

The media tried to ask Costco why they made this announcement now, but the company would only confirm the signs were correct.

So what prompted this change? Was it complaints by members? Too much extra garbage? Unable to keep up with demand? Why have the food court outside of the warehouse store in the first place?

Many questions, and few answers...

Mila Soup Dumplings Finally at Costco in Canada

Liu promotes Mila soup dumplings, aka xiaolongbao

Canadian-Chinese actor Simu Liu is the chief content officer, ie brand ambassador for Mila, a brand of frozen soup dumplings, aka xiaolongbao from the United States.

Mila started selling online, but they started being available in Costco in the US two years ago, and then a few weeks ago were finally for sale in Canada.

The cooked version after steaming for 12 minutes

We bought a bag to try, and the other day tested them out.

Each bag has explicit instructions on how to prepare them -- either steamed or fried like potstickers. We did the former.

In the bag are steamer liners with holes in them and placed one in the bamboo steamer. Following the instructions, we placed 10 frozen xiaolongbao on top of the steamer liners, about an inch apart.

When the water under the metal steamer was boiling, we placed the bamboo steamer inside. The directions say 11 minutes, plus one minute with the heat turned off, then letting it rest of another minute before consuming them.

Just to be sure it was cooked, we let it steam for 12 minutes, and one minute with the heat turned off before serving it.

Available now at Costco in Canada

At first glance the cooked dumplings look machine made. Bite into the first one and it's piping hot, with a small amount of soup inside. The ground pork is more on the lean side with not a lot of fat in it to give it a smoother texture and sweeter taste, but passable if you don't have access to restaurants that serve handmade xiaolongbao.

Picture of the Day: Christmas at Costco

A Snoopy Christmas, anyone? It's available at Costco!

We went to Costco today and there were lots of Halloween candy in bulk and costumes for sale, but Christmas?!

There were advent calendars with chocolates in them, and this cute Snoopy set with a pair of mugs and a cookie jar wrapped with chocolate cookies and hot chocolate balls.

We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!

Sam's Club Muscles its Way into Hong Kong

Sam's Club will extend shopping and delivery to Hong Kong

Hong Kong retailers will have massive competition coming soon, as warehouse megastore Sam's Club, owned by Walmart, will begin offering online shopping and delivery services, with free delivery for purchases over 599 yuan (US$83).

"So far there has not been online shopping for Hong Kong people. There will be a roll-out of such service with direct delivery within two months. But customers need to be a member... and memberships can't be shared with others," an employee familiar with the matter said.

The membership offers a one-year membership for two people at 260 yuan, while a premium membership at 600 yuan offers more benefits.

HKers already shop in Shenzhen for deals

The news of this retail development had some industry observers describing it as "a retail crisis".

Many Hongkongers are going north on the weekends to shop at Costco and Sam's Club already, and the latter's new service will make it even more convenient to take advantage of really cheap goods, from toilet paper to snacks and electronic goods.

The first Sam's Club outlet in China opened in 1996 in Shenzhen, and today it was 44 shops in 25 cities across the country.

Economist Simon Lee Siu-po, an honorary fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Asia-Pacific Institute of Business believes Sam's Club's new service will be a severe blow to local supermarket chains and HKTVmall, an online shopping platform.

"Sam's Club's offering is bulk purchase with cheap deals. With online shopping and delivery for Hongkongers, they no longer need to stock up food or necessities in local stores," he said.

People buy snacks, toilet paper, electronic goods

"Supermarkets and online platform HKTVmall will be hard hit. Coupled with internal troubles, this will be an aggression from abroad. I am afraid this will cause a retail crisis in Hong Kong."

He believed the only way to protect the local retail industry is to impose a sales tax.

Indeed HKTVmall has already taken a big hit -- its net profit fell 78.65 percent to HK$45.3 million (US$5.8 million) last year from HK$212.2 million in 2022.

In March company vice-chairman Ricky Wong Wai-hay predicted a fall in local consumption amid weakened sentiment.

"In parallel with the influence from the external and global economic and political environment, we anticipate a decline in the local consumer market... growth as in the past will be unlikely," he said.

It's going to be a tough road ahead for Hong Kong retailers. Local residents just want the cheapest stuff they can get as their priority; supporting local businesses has gone out the window...

Chinese New Year Gift Ideas

Impressive artistic work, but not appealing to buy

Many western companies are getting into the Lunar New Year spirit to cash in on Asian customers.

At Costco, Sunkist has boxed its oranges in a fancy burgundy-coloured box complete with a golden dragon on it, and it even has 龍年 2024 Year of the Dragon on it.

We needed to buy oranges, but cute packaging

The tagline says: "Citrus for Prosperity".

Today I went to Thomas Haas, a local chocolatier's shop. Among the special items this month along with chocolate hearts is a red dragon in white chocolate, gold chocolate coins and "bamboo". I didn't buy it, but a Caucasian woman did!

Hongkongers Swarm Costco

Massive crowds waited over an hour to get into Costco

Costco has just opened its first location in southern China in Shenzhen, and on the first day, it was overwhelmed mostly with shoppers from Hong Kong. The pictures of the massive queue of people made the Hong Kong news.

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The most popular items? Boxes of 30 strawberries for 95.90 yuan (US$13.50), 2.5kg of Chilean cherries at 249.90 yuan, and a box of 30 eggs for 1880 yuan.

Many shoppers bought boxes of strawberries

Also a good deal was the two-piece of hard-sided Samsonite luggage at 769.90 yuan at Costco, which costs between HK$1,888 and HK$1,980 in Hong Kong. The luggage was snapped up within minutes of the store opening and would be very useful carrying purchases later.

Another popular item was a giant stuffed Disney teddy bear called Lotso from the animated movie Toy Story. 

Shoppers who were interviewed all said they would come back probably once a month because of the good deals. One reported they enjoyed the shopping experience on the mainland compared to Hong Kong, saying it was "livelier"... does that mean shopping in their hometown is depressing?!

Did it ever occur to the Hong Kong government that it should try to lure Costco or Sam's Club to set up shop in the city? Or its hands are tied because billionaires like Li Ka-shing would threaten to retaliate if it did?

Giant Lotso from Toy Story was also a big seller

Either way Hong Kong is losing out on its status as a shopping mecca...

Hongkongers Flock to Warehouse Stores in Shenzhen

Hongkongers are joining tours that take them to Sam's Club

For Hongkongers, visiting Costco in North America is a wide-eye opening experience. 

The members-only warehouse store sells everything from milk to laptops, refrigerators and roast chickens at very good prices. Hongkongers look in wonder at products stacked on pallets and items sold in bulk or in giant containers that would take a while to use up.

There is no Costco in Hong Kong otherwise Park 'n' Shop and Wellcome would be up-in-arms if that kind of rivalry elbowed its way into the city. People would need bigger flats too to store all this stuff in bulk. 

Everything here is much cheaper than in HK

However, there is competition south of the border, as Hong Kong residents eagerly sign up for shopping tours to Shenzhen, where one stop on the itinerary is at Sam's Club, a warehouse store operated by Walmart, and named after Sam Walton, the founder. 

There are 44 Sam's Clubs in 25 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Hangzhou, Xianmen, Chengdu, Shenyang and Ningbo.

As part of the tour, visitors can get a one-year membership for two people for 260 yuan (US$37), which can easily be made back from buying everything from food to giant-screen TVs.

The tours are especially popular with young people who are eager to find deals, as well as products they can only find on the mainland. 

They can snap up fresh seafood, frozen dumplings, Godiva chocolates, Ippudo instant noodles, and even fresh hairy crabs.

Wandering the warehouse store is eye-popping

Who knew young Hongkongers would be so keen to shop in Shenzhen?

But with inflation soaring in the city, it's become a novelty to discover bargains galore in warehouse stores.

Picture of the Day: Chicken Pot Pie

The chicken pie is choc full of ingredients

The deal of the week from Costco! 

We go to the giant warehouse membership store around once a month to stock up and try some of the pre-packaged meals. The lasagna is good (though rich), and shepherd's pie is good too, but after eating those a few times you want to try something else.

For C$10.99 I found a large chicken pot pie and it was delicious!

You have to heat it up in the oven for an hour and it's more than enough for three people. 

The crust is flaky and for the most part holds up the filling inside -- large chunks of chicken, along with carrots, potatoes and peas. 

Nice comfort food at a very good price.

Picture of the Day: Christmas is Coming

It's Christmas at Costco, but it's August and 28 degrees outside

Once a month or so, my dad and I head to Costco to pick up mostly food supplies -- nuts, snacks, vegetables, fruits, toilet paper, roast chicken and the odd piece of clothing. 

Today we checked out the Costco in downtown Vancouver. It was my first time there, and it's quite large, everything laid out well, and has almost the same items as the Richmond one -- which apparently is the most busy in North America.

Walking down the aisles we were shocked to see one area stocked with CHRISTMAS items, from fake Christmas trees to giant baubles as floor decorations, Christmas crackers and LED lights.

We're in late August wearing T-shirts and shorts, and Halloween hasn't even happened yet.

We don't need this reminder of winter coming...

HKG-YVR Mask Comparisons

Vancouver's mostly wide open spaces help avoid Covid-19

I've been in Vancouver for two weeks now and it's been weird transitioning from a place where masks are worn everywhere except in your own home or when eating, whereas here it's all over the map.

There are a lot of people who don't wear masks outside while walking or exercising, though there are some elderly Caucasian people who wear masks while out and about, as well as Asians. Then it's interesting seeing the odd young person wear masks, when one would think others would make fun of them wearing protection.

Earlier children at school had to wear masks 

On public transport, about half the commuters wear masks, others don't, and again the vast majority of Asians wear masks and some elderly. It's quite surprising that bus drivers don't wear masks at all considering they are interfacing with different people constantly during their shift.

In supermarkets and places like Costco, again about half the customers wear masks. Most staff wear them, but not all. One cashier was double masked and really afraid to touch things other than her cash register, while her colleague only a few metres away was completely unmasked and happily chatting with customers. 

Some stores or offices demand that all visitors must wear a mask, including law offices.

On public transport about half wear masks

Also the mask hygiene levels here are pretty lax. In Hong Kong people sanitise their hands and get out a fresh tissue paper before taking off their masks, while here people just fold it and put it in their pocket, or worse, lay it on the restaurant dining table with no tissue at all -- and the part touching the face is face down on the table!

There are hand sanitisers in shopping malls and a few shops, but overall there aren't many people using them, or any alcohol spray at all. Since I was in the habit of using an alcohol spray in Hong Kong, I bought a spray bottle the other day, which was only in the pharmacy section of the store, mostly to treat open wounds to prevent bacteria.

Is Hong Kong overly fanatic about keeping clean? Or do Vancouverites need to learn more from Hongkongers? 

To enter some shops, masks are required

Fastidious hygiene is a good habit to have, and Vancouver is lucky in that there are big spaces and many live in homes that allow for social distancing. However, would it hurt to pay a bit more attention to cleanliness? We're touching so many things all the time...