All-Mart: "Find everything"
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:34 am
You're standing outside VBNC's newest and greatest subsidiary. Some say it's a supermarket, some say it's a discount warehouse, some say it's a hardware superstore, and some say it's a fashion extravagenza. VBNC say only one thing about it: All-Mart - "Find everything."
Even it's outside is a feast for the eyes. Above you stretches a massive edifice, surely at least three stories high, with marble columns and frescoes of happy wood nymphs leading delighted shoppers down the aisles. At it's pinnacle stands a huge quartz dome, glittering brightly in the sunlight, a crisscross of chromium bars holding each pane in place. Atop that stands three flag poles, flying the flags of Shireroth, Kildare and VBNC.
You turn your eyes back down to the entrance. On any other building, they would be called doors; but such a common, ordinary word would be a gross misjustice here. You can describe them as nothing less than glimmering portals which slide soundlessly open as you approach. You enter and look up to see level upon level held underneath the mighty dome. By the time you look down again, there is a smiling shop assistant in front of you. "Welcome to All-Mart. Would you like any assistance with your shopping needs today?"
As you wonder the aisles pushing your trolley you find all manner of items available for sale. Down one aisle you find flour (plain, self-raising, gluten-free, fat-reduced and lump-reducing), the next sugar (icing, caster, white, raw, brown, dark brown, really dark brown, and practically black) and the third all the baking trays you could possibly need. In the clothing section you walk past racks of designer MarCo. silk dresses; and down the end of the hall a big sign proudly proclaims they have all 823 designs in Bahira Shepherding's new t-shirt range. Across the floor you find a hardware section selling nails of every size, shape and substance, ("Diamond Nails - For When Strength Matters"); hammers ranging from the practical to the outrageous ("Large Novelty Blue Hammer, perfect of a family day at the DZ!") and even screwdrivers (plug in, battery operated, long life, solar, and sonic).
Every floor offers regular lots of elevators; though when you get inside, you find things referenced not by number but by letter codes. These elevators go sideways as well as up/down, and whisk you to whatever section you want to go, be that Reading (H); Computer (O) or, inexplicably, Squid Care (JT). Different elevators seem to have different possible locations; but whenever you step in, you can always see the section you want next somewhere near the top. The waiting music is simply sublime; and the elevators even include comfy couches to sit down on while you lock your trolley wheels in the provided floor grooves.
When you finally have everything (and we mean everything) that you came in for; and a few more things besides; you take the elevator to the level marked "Checkout." Expecting long queues, you are amazed to discover a series of gates - like at an airport or train station - with more than enough bays for all the customers around. You walk into one, and the computer instantly begins scanning for all the radio-identification-tags placed on each of your items. It even found the chocolate bar you'd forgotten about and put in your pocket! Within seconds it scrolls through a list of items on screen and then presents a total. A mere 145.67
GELT for this trolley load? A bargain indeed. You swipe your credit card in the waiting machine (you noticed "Cash" bays further down, but decided you didn't need them today) and the gate opens as the light flashes green. You push your trolley through, out the sliding doors and into the sunshine. What an experience!
Even it's outside is a feast for the eyes. Above you stretches a massive edifice, surely at least three stories high, with marble columns and frescoes of happy wood nymphs leading delighted shoppers down the aisles. At it's pinnacle stands a huge quartz dome, glittering brightly in the sunlight, a crisscross of chromium bars holding each pane in place. Atop that stands three flag poles, flying the flags of Shireroth, Kildare and VBNC.
You turn your eyes back down to the entrance. On any other building, they would be called doors; but such a common, ordinary word would be a gross misjustice here. You can describe them as nothing less than glimmering portals which slide soundlessly open as you approach. You enter and look up to see level upon level held underneath the mighty dome. By the time you look down again, there is a smiling shop assistant in front of you. "Welcome to All-Mart. Would you like any assistance with your shopping needs today?"
As you wonder the aisles pushing your trolley you find all manner of items available for sale. Down one aisle you find flour (plain, self-raising, gluten-free, fat-reduced and lump-reducing), the next sugar (icing, caster, white, raw, brown, dark brown, really dark brown, and practically black) and the third all the baking trays you could possibly need. In the clothing section you walk past racks of designer MarCo. silk dresses; and down the end of the hall a big sign proudly proclaims they have all 823 designs in Bahira Shepherding's new t-shirt range. Across the floor you find a hardware section selling nails of every size, shape and substance, ("Diamond Nails - For When Strength Matters"); hammers ranging from the practical to the outrageous ("Large Novelty Blue Hammer, perfect of a family day at the DZ!") and even screwdrivers (plug in, battery operated, long life, solar, and sonic).
Every floor offers regular lots of elevators; though when you get inside, you find things referenced not by number but by letter codes. These elevators go sideways as well as up/down, and whisk you to whatever section you want to go, be that Reading (H); Computer (O) or, inexplicably, Squid Care (JT). Different elevators seem to have different possible locations; but whenever you step in, you can always see the section you want next somewhere near the top. The waiting music is simply sublime; and the elevators even include comfy couches to sit down on while you lock your trolley wheels in the provided floor grooves.
When you finally have everything (and we mean everything) that you came in for; and a few more things besides; you take the elevator to the level marked "Checkout." Expecting long queues, you are amazed to discover a series of gates - like at an airport or train station - with more than enough bays for all the customers around. You walk into one, and the computer instantly begins scanning for all the radio-identification-tags placed on each of your items. It even found the chocolate bar you'd forgotten about and put in your pocket! Within seconds it scrolls through a list of items on screen and then presents a total. A mere 145.67
GELT for this trolley load? A bargain indeed. You swipe your credit card in the waiting machine (you noticed "Cash" bays further down, but decided you didn't need them today) and the gate opens as the light flashes green. You push your trolley through, out the sliding doors and into the sunshine. What an experience!
