Guangzhou Shopping

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The Guangdong Museum of Folk Art has a few large shops where you can buy ivory, fans made from palm leafs and calligraphy paintings etc. I bought a copy of small calligraphy paintings even though I saw plenty of them on my long trip around China but they were a novelty here as Guangzhou was my first port of call in China.

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After visiting the Temple of Bright Filial Piety, I stumbled across this indoor market just down the road to the east of the temple but I don't know its name. Inside was very busy as it was early evening at about 6pm. There was a fine selection of fruit, vegetables and salad produce on sale along with meat and fish.

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Lots of shoppings. Small size clothing for chinese market though. Tons and Tons of shoe shops
dirt cheap.. Very crowded especially on Weekends. you can barely pass through the crowds.. and for goodness dont let it rain, you'll never get anywhere. I think it is cheaper than beijing lu. but the crowds is a hassle.. prices here are set in the shops, no haggling.
They also have a several jade jewlrey markets within.

Catching a taxi from this shopping district is the most difficult thing you can imagine... you almsot have to fight for one. really. Also within this pedestrian street is a huge mall which goes underground and connect to the most huge accessory wholesale and bead market ever
this mall also have a few bead shops within as well and will cater to you more so, because they have very few street traffic in their shops. I bought lots of necklaces , even tiger eye and had them made to my liking. They sell strands one, one and you can bargin here.

With all this shopping i just wish they had more more usa size clothing and nice dresses. everything was very hiphop, punk and korean style clothes. No fake name brand clothing here either.. (atleast from what i saw)

What to pay: $2-10 on shoes

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China trip Aug 27---sept 12 2008

Shopping on Beijing Rd.

Many Many shops atleast 150 -200. Ranging from department stores (expensive for China -atleast to me) Small independent shops - but the current style in these shops are
more like a urban outfitters, Seal, Forever 21..etc. . I guess kong kong style, very punk like clothes it seems they are into. I was hoping for nice dresses and stuff. Some price are comparable to us price really and some are much cheaper. However All chinese name brands - no famous desinger clothing labels on this street. There there are aslo low price shops with sales people clapping and screamming for attention anoucning their loss leader products which are of very cheap quality clothing between $2-3 us dollars ... the problem with all these shops are they clothes only fit chinese bodies. Majority of the shops carry "one size" fit all. I found maybe 2 shops that carried md. and large, but prices were semi good.

Most of the shops on this street are more like boutiques, carrying one piece of one item.
Unlike US stores having 2sizes of small, med. large. and XL in the same style. Having a bigger chest and being taller than chinese woman. Not many things fit me well.

The only thing of some value where cheap cheap shoes. at $$$$2, 3, 4,5. Probably it was the only thing i felt comfortable buying.
there are many bag and purse shops and accessory shops. generic purses go for about $3-5
and there are some shops ----( men with fake watch books will take you) to sell fake name brand bags, I bought a leather prada, gucci and DG for about $25 each.

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G2000 A.K.A Generation 2000 Limited,G2000 ESTABLISHED IN 1985,LOCALIZED AS PROFESSIONAL FASHION CHAIN STORE IN THE MARKET, MAINLY ON POPULAR FASHIONED CLOTHING FOR OFFICE LADY AND GENTLEMEN.
BOUTIQUE AT BEIJING ROAD, CHINA PLAZA AND GRANDVIEW PLAZA
DON'T FORGET THE COUPONS...

I kind of found this place by accident when I got off at the wrong bus stop. At first glance, it looks like a regular shopping mall with a ton of small shops sellling various knick knacks. I soon discovered that it is actually a wholesale market. Apparently store and boutique owners go there from all over the world go here to buy their products wholesale. They sell everything from arts and crafts, collectibles of all types, jewelery, toys, games, sporting goods, any type of keychain you can think of and tons of different gift items. Each small shop usually only sells one type of item, for example just tea sets or just hair accessories. However, they will have an enormous selection and variety of that type of item. You can find 20 types of the same item when regular stores only carry 3-4.

However, you will only get near wholesale prices if you buy in bulk, usually about 20 or more of the same item depending on what it is. Most shop owners will only bargain if you buy in bulk. If you buy single items the prices will be higher but still much lower than anywhere else in Guangzhou since you are buying direct from the wholesaler.

I bought 20 unofficial Beijing Olympic keychains for 5 yuan each, I am using them as gifts for my co-workers and friends. I saw a store elsewhere selling the exact same item for 3 times the price. I bought a couple non-bulk items at prices only about 15% cheaper than elsewhere. However, they had about 10x more selection.

Its a big building with over 5 floors. It's not a shop like we know in europe, its more like a flea market. There are lot of small boothes in it, sometimes only a table or a glas cabinet. there are no prices at the artical.
I think there are over 300 different selling companys but at least boothes.
There are lot of childern working there, it's not a good feeling to buy something, but at this trip i saw this is everywhere even in my hotel or at Pizza Hut.
The prices are to high and the products are most copys. Sometimes copys are ok but the quality of this copys are very very bad.

Some prices to check for you 22.04.2008
HDD 3.5inch 500GB Samsung (cheap version with 5400rpm) 62euro (ebay germany 65)
HDD 2.5inch 250GB noname 67€ (ebay 72euro)
Sony PSP2 Black version only unit complete 140euro (ebay 160 with game)
Logitech mouse V320 33euro
RAM S0 Dimm 2GB 23euro

You dont know if it is a complete orignal product or if any parts swapped, you have to know that the chinese have enough time to do that.
It's to arduous to negotiate the price, i bought a keyboard because i need it urgently, they want 150rmb in germany it cost 50rmb sometimes 30rmb, i gave him 120rmb. After i back in the hotel it make problems. The same with a mouse and a lamentation (copy from sony).

I think it not a place of interest, because lot of this goods are copys and the chinese lying.
you cant look at a shop without that anybody like to sell you something, its very blatantly.
I think the cost for a booth are very high, and this is the cause for this attitude.

What to buy: Some prices to check for you 22.04.2008
HDD 3.5inch 500GB Samsung (cheap version with 5400rpm) 62euro (ebay germany 65)
HDD 2.5inch 250GB noname 67€ (ebay 72euro)
Sony PSP2 Black version only unit complete 140euro (ebay 160 with game)
Logitech mouse V320 33euro
RAM S0 Dimm 2GB 23euro

Ladies, looking for leather bags in GZ? You'll go crazy if you go to Jie Fang Bei Rd, there's a stretch of 4 to 5 shopping malls selling ALL kinds of bags, mainly leather bags.

The mall that I would recommend, along this road is World Leather City (Bai Yun Shi Jie Pi Ju Cheng). The shops there are most organised, spacious and is air-conditioned. The shops here even have stickers on their shop front, stating if they accept retail customers or just attend to wholesale customers. Hence, you can happily go into those shops that welcome retail customers and not worry about not buying in bulk.

The mall is super big and there are really a great variety of ladies bags offered there. There are also some shops selling male's briefcase, working bags, luggages, male's clothes.

My friend can shop at that mall, just one mall, for 5 hours.

Sorry, no photo, did not remember to bring along the camers that day. :P

What to buy: Leather bags

What to pay: The design and quality of bags sold there varies, but good ones can still be cheaper than those you can get from outside, those major shopping malls, say in Tien He district.