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Shopping in City - A practical guide
Brief introduction
Shopping in Shanghai is a very enjoyable experience. Big brands are setting up branches and small unique shops mushroom at many corners of the city. With a little patience, sharp observation, ability to endure long walks and bargaining skills, you can buy to your heart's content in the commercial capital of China.
Big shopping malls are convenient to find quality products and supermarkets offer a wide range of products at reasonable prices. Renowned areas offer Shanghai-style souvenirs at unbelievably low prices. To test or improve your bargain skills, there is no better place than Shanghai. Some booth owners even speak good English, Korean and Japanese.
Street shopping
Shanghai has become a shopping paradise for visitors mainly because of its reputed streets, including Nanjing Road, the country's No.1 Commercial Street, Huaihai Road, a street of world-famous brands and latest fashions to attract customers from all over the world, and Xujiahui, a shopping center gathering clothes, shoes, food, cosmetics, digital products and entertainment centers together within a circle.
∎ Paying attention to different expressions for discounts. The Chinese sign "7折" means 30 percent off, while "8折" means 20 percent off.
∎ Take tissues when going to toilets. Even in some big department stores, tissues are not within reach around the lavatory. Make sure you have them at hand before it’s too late.
∎ Some shopping assistants may follow you in some big stores. You can tell them you are just having a look and ask them to leave you alone.
Shopping in supermarkets
Organic vegetables and fruits being put on shelves in a downtown supermarket.
The majority of locals shop in supermarkets, because they offer all sorts of products at very reasonable price. Sometime a product can be 20 percent cheaper in a supermarket than in convenient stores.
These supermarkets are run by Chinese retailers as well as foreign companies.
Big supermarkets include Lotus, Carrefour and Lianhua, some of which are offering imported goods.
∎ Before entering the supermarket, don't forget to put your carrying-on into a locker outside the supermarket and keep a paper with password.
∎ Remember to watch out the expiry data for fresh foods, such as yogurt.
Souvenirs shopping
Chinese souvenirs are available in almost every corner of the city. But for quality souvenirs at a good price, we would recommend you two places where a collection of souvenir shops or dealers can be found.
For those coming from out-of-town, buying souvenirs for friends and loved ones at home is a mission indispensable. In many cases the success of a trip depends on the quality of the souvenirs.
We will recommend you some good places to get them, one in Yuyuan Garden and another in Duolun Road, which are consisting of varieties of goods.
Yuyuan Garden
A fan market at Yuyuan Garden . Yuyuan Garden, whose construction started in 1559, is the most obvious choice for buying souvenirs.
Recent years, Yuyuan Garden is also famous for wholesale and retail markets around it. These markets sell varieties of Chinese-style products at a relatively low price, (compared with their price in overseas that will be extremely low,) Wholesalers can get the low price more easily, and ordinary customers may need bargain with seller.
Follow Fuyou Road and go south, on the east side (or the left side, if you follow our direction) is a big market. It is divided into many small stores, selling mirrors, Chinese knots, socks, stuff toys, watches, crystal products, pearl bags and handset decorations. Most goods are displayed on the first floor, while other floors are not as popular as it.
But you should have more patience because roads between lines of stores are quite narrow with crowded people, and you are easily got lost in the busy market, so wandering in order is a smart idea.
Leaving the market and keeping heading south along Fuyou Road, you will find another market selling crystal and agate products, "Shanghai Crystal Street," also on the east side (still the left side) of the road.
In it you can find crystals or agates of different shapes, sparkling and attractive. But all the stores sell similar goods so you need some special knowledge to tell which of them are of better quality and figure out the real price of them. (You may find tips later.)
Opposite to the crystal market is the "Fuyuan Shopping Mall." On the first floor, you can find lace products, which are cute while a little rough, fake hair, pearl bags, personal ornaments, teapot, chopsticks, embroidery, and ancient-Chinese-style dolls. The second floor of the mall sells heath-care products.
At last, when you enter the Yuyuan Garden, you will see "The Show of Special Skill by Folk Craftsmen," which displays folk techniques. You can buy a paper-cutting of your side figure, or a pencil sketch of your appearance, or buy a doll made by china.
On the China Gift & Specialty Street, you can find products combined with China's old customs and current fashions, like chopsticks, walking sticks, instruments, bags, pearls, cups, bowls, chinas, scissors, combs, embroidered shoes, poker cards and chesses with special print, umbrellas and pens. These goods are for appreciation rather than for practical use.
You may have no idea of what you want to buy when wandering into this pedestrian area. But the more stores you look at, the more things you would want to buy.
Duolun Road
Souvenir shops were built into local style old buildings on Duolun Road.
Duolun Road is a short and quite street gathered with stores selling products passed from old Shanghai and goods with cultural sense. In old Shanghai, many modern literature figures, such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Guo Moruo and Ye Shentao, used to live in it. It also regarded as "an epitome of the change of Shanghai."
The stores on the street seem deep and dark, with old but precious products filled the rooms. They sell things as well as purchase valuable products. The street itself is like a museum, and walking on it, you can feel the custom and fashion of old Shanghai.
Pianos, maps, photos, typewriters, printing machine, comic strips, calligraphy and paintings, relics and western craft workers can be found along the road.
Besides these stores, you can also have a great fun in galleries, art halls, churches and coffee shops.
Transport: Take Metro Line No.3 and get off at Hongkou Football Stadium Station, then walk along Sichuan Rd.N towards South. Duolun Road is connected with Sichuan Rd.N in the north.
You can print out "带我去多伦路"("Take me to Duolun Road" in Chinese) to show to your taxi driver
Have Your Say
Sam Flemming (American, 8 years in Shanghai) described the prices of different goods and credit card acceptance in the city.
Where to buy home appliances
If you want to buy home appliances in Shanghai, three names are certainly worth mentioning: Gome, Yongle and Suning.
These three Hong Kong-listed home appliance store chains sell almost every home appliance products: mobile phones, televisions, computers, digital cameras, refrigerators, washing machines, acoustics and air conditioners.
The trio is famous for attracting customers by cutting prices and offer discounts in various forms.Their aggressive price wars have lead to the extinction of home appliance sections in traditional department stores.
They also have refund policies as well as offer installation services.
There are two ways to get home appliances you need: go to their outlets or place an order online by visiting their Websites.
