there goes the neighborhood

The inevitable has happened. We've been in this neighborhood since November, happy to be a bit off the beaten path, a ways away from the most popular expat locations. But this afternoon, walking home from Citic Square, we stopped by a local DVD shop we haven't been to in months. And instead of the very local, moderately priced, never crowded store, we saw that it had been cut in two. Where our old store, our second favorite neighborhood store, sat now sits a real estate office (of course) and a new location of the Blockbuster's of Shanghai bootlegs, Ka De Club. The (other) expats have arrived.

The orange paper signs out front said enough, what with their big Roman letters pronouncing "Ka De Club" for every non-Chinese reader's benefit. But to top all, as we bravely walked in, out were coming a few loud expat Americans while a cab was dropping off another load who were going in. Inside the store, we found a much weaker selection of films were being poured over by non-Chinese throughout. Our little store had become the new outpost for what I used to call the Shanghai Expat Community Center.

Ka De Club out near Xiangyang Market (the knock-off bag, jewelry, etc... market) was the first dvd store we came to know. With a large, albeit mainstream, catalog of American movies, we'd often find something to enjoy. The funniest thing was that on the weekends we'd always see friends and other foreigners there, hence the nickname. Many times, they'd be flaunting their Chinese and being rude to the equally rude and equally pushy staff there. We tired of it, and haven't gone back in ages.

And now the horribly rude staff and the often rude customers have moved into the neighborhood. I just pray they don't encroach on our favorite place, our little secret place around the corner.