American Stores

In the United States you will find yourself being urged from every page of every newspaper and on practically every television station to buy all kinds of goods that you are actually quite happy without.

Not only is there a wide range of prices for goods in America, there is also a wide range in the quality of goods offered for sale. Unlike some countries, Americans generally pay the price of a product without question, instead of trying to get a lower price by bargaining. However, there are many "sales" in the United States, during which time stores will lower their normal prices. This may all be very confusing to the visitor. Which is the best product to buy out of hundreds to choose from? How are you going to know how to "get your money's worth" when you shop? Perhaps the best advice is: Don't hurry. Visit various stories and determine the quality of goods. Examine them carefully. Read the advertisements so that you can compare prices. Explore and examine before you buy.

There is a great variety of shops in the United States, ranging from very large stores called "department stores," offering clothing, furniture, household goods as well as many other goods, to very small shops that specialize in just one kind of product. There are "discount houses" offering goods at low prices, and "dime stores" specializing in a wide range of inexpensive items.

Most department stores in large cities carry average to better quality products at average to higher prices. However, they offer the shopper great convenience since they contain such a wide variety of products.

If convenience isn't important to you as price, you many want to shop in some of the discount houses. These stores have nearly as great a variety of goods as department stores, but offer lower prices. They can do so for several reasons. They don't offer the same services to buyers that department stores do; there may be fewer sales people; and the store probably doesn't deliver purchases.

There are many small shops in America, as there are everywhere, that offer a more limited quantity of products. Usually run by a small number of salespeople, these shops offer products that range from inexpensive to very expensive, depending on the shop. You are likely to receive more attention from the sales-people in small shops than in department stores.

Another popular shop is the "dime store," sometimes referred to as the "five and ten." No longer selling many things for five or ten cents, these stores got their name in the last century when it was decided that a small profit on a great quantity of goods would be better than a large profit on fewer sales. Dime stores specialize in a wide variety of inexpensive items and today, prices range from a quarter or 50 cents up to several dollars. If you need a small item and don't want to spend very much, the dime store is likely to have just what you are looking for.

The United States is also known for its "supermarkets," where huge quantities of all kinds of food and household articles are sold. These stores offer good quality food at lower prices than smaller food stores.

The vast majority of Americans do all their food shopping in supermarkets. One of the most interesting sections to visit is the frozen food section. With discoveries in methods to preserve food, almost every kind of food can be frozen and yet keep its original flavor. Since frozen foods require so little time to cook, they have naturally become very popular everywhere in the coutry.

美國各種類型的商店

在美國，你不知不覺地發現，月份報紙的每一頁，特別是每個電視臺的廣告都在敦促你去購買各種各樣的商品。其實，如果你不買這些商品的話，也許你會更快活。

在美國，不但所出售的商品的價格大不相同，連商品的質量也是完全不一樣。不像在其他一些國家，美國人一般按產品的價格付款時都不爭講價錢，不是通過討價還價來企圖以較低的價格來買到產品。不過，在美國也有很多"促銷"活動，在促銷期間各類商店都會把他們的正常價格降下來。這使得訪客們感到大惑不解，在數百個選擇機會當中，哪一種產品才是最好的呢？每當你去商店購物時，你怎樣才能知道你的錢花得物有所值呢？也許最好的忠告就是：別著急，多跑幾層樓查看一下商品的質量，仔細檢驗一下商品，看看各種廣告以便你可以比較一下價格。在你還沒買之前先考察一番，檢驗一下商品質量。

在美國，有好多不同類型的商店：從供應衣著用品、家具、日雜用品以及被稱為"百貨公司"的大型商店，直到專營某種產品的一些很小的商店。還有以低價供貨的"特價商品屋"和專營各種下大值錢的東西"十美分商店"。

在一些大城市，大多數百貨公司經營的產品一般說來質量較好，但價格平均也比較高。盡管價格較高，因為百貨公司里有很多很多的不同的產品，這就給逛商店的人提供了很大的方便。

如果對你來說，這些方便不如價格重要，那你可以去一些特價商品屋去采購。這些商店所擁有的商品幾乎跟大百貨公司一樣地品種繁多，可是價格去比較低。特價商品屋之所以能這樣做，有下列幾種原因：他們不能像大百貨公司提供給買主的那些服務項目；特價商品屋的銷售人手比較小，所以這種商店可能不會送貨上門。

在美國，正像世界各地一樣，有很多小店鋪，這些小店鋪供應的商品品種就更有限了。通常只有少數幾個人在經營這個店鋪，這些鋪子經營的產品有不貴的也有很貴的，這要看該鋪子的情況了。在這些小鋪子里比大百貨公司里你可能會得到售貨員的更加細心的照料。

另一種很受歡迎的商店就是"10美分店"，有時也稱為"5分10分店。"這些商店的名字是上個世紀起的，那時簿利多銷總比厚利少銷要好，這是很清楚的。10美分店專門經營種類繁多的便宜貨，今天的價格是25美分或50美分，直到幾美元的東西都有。如果你想買一件小東西，但又不想多花錢，那么10美分店里很可能就會有正是你所要撒謊的那件東西。

美國以其"超級市場"而稱著于世，超市里出售大量的花色品種繁多的食品和日用品。超市所供應的食品與較小的食品店比較起來質量好，價格低。

絕大多數的美國人都在超級市場里采購食品。冷凍食品部是人們最有興趣去的部門之一。冷藏食品的各種方法問世以來，幾乎各種食品都可以冷凍并且能保存原滋原味。因為冷凍食品所需要的烹制時間很短，所以在美國冷凍儀器自然就成了到處都受歡迎的食品了。