journeys into the unknown: Tesco tour

Several weeks ago, I was on the ABWM (Association for British Women in Malaysia) website and noticed that they were offering a tour around the local, recently enlarged and remodeled Tesco store which included lunch, wine tasting, and a goodie bag-all for only 20RM (~$7). Knowing how I am about good deals, how could I pass up a great deal like that?!

Tesco is a retail chain store that was started in the United Kingdom and is the 3rd largest retailer in the world after Walmart and Carrefour. The first store was opened in 1929 in England and it now has stores in 14 countries around the world including Malaysia.

Our group consisted of about 20 women, mostly from the UK, all expats living in Kuala Lumpur. The general manager of this Tesco store guided us around the store giving explanations about many of the different areas including the toys, electronics, kitchen and bedroom items, a special baby/toddler area, bath and body products, optometry, clothing, and foods.

Thirty minutes into our tour, we stopped at the in store restaurant for complementary snacks (the Malaysian way is to eat whenever there is an opportunity). Once seated, they served us coffee, tea, sodas, and sampler foods from their restaurant, bakery, and food aisles. We worked off the calories following the head cook around the large produce area as he gave colorful explanations about the local fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs and more. He even invited us back for cooking classes at a later date!

The general manager took over again after the head cook finished his spiel. He took us to the huge fresh seafood area where we learned that the female crabs which are easily identifiable have more meat than the males. Then we did a little wine tasting in the non-halal area (foods not permissible for Muslims to eat or drink under Islamic law) of the store. After identifying the rather limited organic food area, we headed back to the entrance where we were all given goodie bags with Swiss chocolate, ramen noodles, a bottle of walnut oil, and a 50RM gift coupon for the store! Which I naturally spent later that day.

To conclude the tour, our group was led downstairs to a restaurant outside of Tesco where they served us a lovely meal-unfortunately, not many of us had much of an appetite...