Shopping in Brisbane

Shopping is different here on many levels. First of all it is expensive. Food, clothing, everything costs more. People earn more, minimum wage is about seventeen dollars. Even the McDonalds workers make that. So it makes the cost of all goods more expensive. Some other tidbits, people rarely tip, not even in restaurants. Right now the American dollar against the Australia dollar exchange rate is good for us, by a little bit. The stores do not stay open in the evenings because it is too expensive for them to pay the help. The major malls stay open late on Thursdays only. Most of the grocery stores close early too, even on Saturdays, so we have to be more organized with shopping. No last minute Saturday night store runs! The malls have major grocery stores in them. You can buy your groceries and then walk all around the mall with your cart, everyone does. The grocery carts go forward and backward but they also go sideways, yep, it's kind of crazy. Because everyone pushes carts around the escalators don't have stairs, they have ramps. When the carts are on the ramps they automatically lock so there are no runaway carts. There is a costco being built here, about 30minutes from the office, we will go take a look when it opens. Our refrigerator is small and so is our kitchen, so we don't buy a lot at one time but we do stock up when certain items go on sale, like coke zero! There are targets and kmart here, but they are usually smaller stores than in the US. There are Subways and Kentucky Fried Chicken stores everywhere, also McDonalds and Hungry Jacks (kind of like Burger King) the Australians take their holidays seriously, this Easter weekend even the post office is closed Friday through Monday. On Good Friday most retail is closed, even gas stations. Speaking of Easter, Happy Easter to all!