American retailers flee China

The economy might be booming, 2004 might be the year of the Chinese consumer, but some of the American retail chains are seen packing their bags.
A&W, all American Restaurants has left its eight franchises behind, reports BizJournal, leaving behind over US$ 600,00 in debts.
The famous chain Blockbuster even did not make it into mainland China, counted their losses in Hong Kong and also decided to leave, a large number of media wrote in the past few days, after the Financial Times broke the story.
The year 2003 had been a watershed for many international businesses as even the traditionally gloomy American Chamber of Commerce in China had to admit most of its members did make a profit in China, and some were even wildly profitable.
But on the ground, in retailing, getting access has always been more troublesome.
Michael Wong from Blockbuster says that piracy issues, costs and different habits of video watching (like: only the illegal, affordable DVD's) made them decide to cease their operation.
China is not a place where general observations are very helpful: for every industry, for every region the situation might be different and other experiences might not be valid.