Mar 3, 2023 - News

What’s on Temu, the weirdest shopping app

We installed it so you don't have to. Photo: Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Temu, the hot new online store that became the most-downloaded app in Apple’s store this year, is headquartered in Boston.

  • It had ads all over social media, mobile games and even the Super Bowl.

Details: The retailer is owned by Chinese company PDD Holdings, which also owns online agriculture platform Pinduoduo.

  • The company is listed at 31 St. James Ave Suite 355 in the Park Square Building downtown by the Plaza.

The intrigue: A quick browse through the app shows that it's a clearing house for dirt-cheap products from overseas. We thought we'd "shop like a billionaire" like the ads say to test the Massachusetts bona fides of this new "local" company.

  • A search for the word "Boston" has some surprising results. Surprising in that they don't make any sense at all.
Probably unauthorized Celtics merch. Screencap: Temu

The intrigue: This "Cozy crop tee" has a Boston emblem with the words "Positive Los Angeles" on it.

  • That shirt, and several other pieces of clothing, say "EST. 1997" or 1998, indicating that our nearly 400-year-old city is only in its mid-20s.
Maybe they just mean the Seaport. Screencap: Temu

If you search for "Massachusetts," it starts out with some items that do actually relate to the Bay State.

I could have been making ice cubes and baked goods shaped like Mass. with most of the Merrimack Valley punched out this whole time?! Screencap: Temu

But then, it serves up what appears to be Snoop Dogg as a Christmas elf and labels it as a "St. Patrick's Day Irish Gnome Doll." So if you've got a blunt to share, come into the parlor.

About as Irish as Shamrock Shakes. Screencap: Temu

Deehan's thought bubble: My personal favorite find was this $7.64 white tee that gets the city's founding year right, yet somehow fails to capture true New England sentiment in its slogan.

"Keep an optimistic and positive attitude." Two virtues we're known for, after all. Screencap: Temu
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