"The key locations are growing quite rapidly," says Husband, from his Hong Kong office. "In the last two years there's been, in many of the cities, a strong level of year-on-year growth of 20 percent or more."

"Almost any major luxury brand you care to name - Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel - is in China, and most have been in China for several years already," says Husband.

What's new is their rapidly spreading cachet, says Chadha. These luxury brands have burst out of the confines of Beijing and Shanghai and spread rapidly to major cities throughout the country.

"A lot of people have made a lot of money in manufacturing," says Chadha. And they want to display their newfound wealth. Buying luxury brands, she says, "is a new way of showing status."

But for these high-end retailers, there's more than just the money to be made from China's nouveaux riches on an afternoon shopping spree. They're mentally ringing up sales from the Chinese as they indulge in a growing number of trips abroad that have been facilitated by easier access to exit visas.

"The real opportunity in the very near term is in the outbound market," says Husband.

"There's a real possibility that in 10 years, China could rival the Japan of the '80s and '90s as the world's largest market, if you add the spending of people traveling overseas and domestic sales."

Right now, though, Wal-Mart is more interested in produce than in fashion chic.

"I think the Chinese consumers are still interested primarily in the fresh-product offering," says Slape. "They want a good assortment of fresh produce, meats, fish, deli products. That is really the driver of the customer traffic."