Shopping in Shenzhen (在深圳买东西）

Coming out of immigration on the right hand side is Luohu Commericial City, probably the biggest tourist trap ever!!! It's like Silk Street in Beijing. Four or five stories of handbags, handbags, handbags. And if not bags, then it's jade or watches or shoes or drapes. Don't buy at first sight, make sure you get at least 2-3 quotes from different stores before beginning the bargaining process!


Since I was looking for a bag, I did buy some knock-offs of some brands. I have no knowledge of what's "in" and what's "last year" so I just bought what I thought looked nice.

I bought this bag for 75 RMB ($9.15 USD) down from 180 RMB, I later realized that 40-50 RMB was probably about right.


I bought this bag from another store for 80 RMB down from 150 RMB. I fought a bit for this price so I think it was about right.


I also needed some slippers, so I went to a store and found some Japanese-style slippers. This was a bargain compared to what I found in Hong Kong. Just look at the difference.

Plain slippers from City Super in Hong Kong - $30 HKD ($3.85 USD).


Very cute kitty holding strawberry slippers - $30 RMB ($3.66 USD).


I later saw the cute Hello Kitty slippers and Doraemon slippers that I really wanted selling for $15 RMB ($1.83 USD). Whoops.

I discovered a great "dollar store" in Shenzhen whose motto is "2 Dollars for Each Item" (2元一件）Here I was able to buy a cup, a mug, pant clothes hangers, masking tape, hair clips, and other odds and ends all for just $2 RMB each. Unfortunately, I only discovered this shop after buying a hairpiece in Luohu Commercial City for $10 RMB (which I bargained down from $15 RMB). Boy did I feel like an idiot.

The rest of the items I needed, I purchased from narrow, dark residential alleyways in Shenzhen. Shower slippers were $3 RMB, a pack of 8 medium sized regular clothes hangers were $5 RMB, a large plastic bowl for cereal and meals was $4 RMB. I seriously considered buying a synthetic blanket or a wool-like thin blanket for $30-40 RMB, but decided against it since I hate synthetics and the patterns were ugly. I saw the mattress pads a fellow exchange student, Jenny, had been looking for being sold for about $20 RMB. I think she bought hers for $30 USD, but at least she got good quality I think.

The fashion among the women in Shenzhen is not Beijing fashion for sure, but not Hangzhou either. It was fashion gone berserk. In Shenzhen, the choices for clothing were limitless...too limitless in my opinion. There must have been at least 2000 stores in the area all selling clothes, handbags, and shoes. And the quality ranged quite a bit. I saw too many low-quality clothing on the racks. I saw a lot of clothes with ribbons and sparkles and glitter. Not exactly haute coutre; not exactly even fashion. But Shenzhen is supposedly (according to the Lonely Planet Guide) the richest city in China. I do recall seeing several uber-riche looking people walking about here and there (among the multitudes). I could tell them apart by the quality and style of their clothing. Or maybe the serene, cool confidence that people of luxury seem to exude.

So that's the summary of prices and such for my first shopping excursion in Shenzhen. Next time I will bring with me a popular book selling in Hong Kong called "The Guide to Shopping in Shenzhen", which I have heard is excellent.