Qipu Road: Wholesale Clothes Shopping

Buy clothes, shoes, bags, jackets, hats, and all sorts of accessories at Qipu Road (七铺路), which sounds like “cheap” said with a Chinese accent, Shanghai’s famous and infamous wholesale shopping area. More popular with local retailers who sometimes get their stock here at wholesale prices, these shops also offer single item sales. Don’t let the chaos stop you, there are good quality clothing there for a fraction of the price in retail shops. Warning: Bargaining powers needed.

Try Your Luck with Scratch & Win

There are two booths along Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street (南京东路步行街) that exchanges your cash for the chance to win more cash. Like a lottery ticket, but you don’t have to wait for the weekly results. They are Scratch & Win cards!

Ah Niang Noodles 阿娘面

There’s something about a long line of customers outside a restaurant that always spikes interest.

The Ah Niang Noodles Shop (阿娘面) at Sinan Road is only open during meal times for about 2.5 hours each time, and the snaking queue outside it everyday is testament to how popular it is. The process of queuing, getting your order taken, finding a seat, and finally getting your bowl of noodles is about half an hour to an hour, depending on the time you arrive and how many other customers were thinking of having Ah Niang noodles for their meal too. Going near the end of the mealtime seems to be a better bet as the crowd dissipates.

‘Tis the Season of Buying Down Jackets

Just last year, Bosideng opened their flagship store on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai. Previously, there were only little Bosideng corners at departmental stores. The down jacket designs are no longer as plain and old-fashioned (think: for grannies and grandpas) as they used to be. They have done a good job redesigning their apparel to make down jackets look pretty trendy, thus repositioning themselves as upmarket and fashionable. The store is big and variety is aplenty.

Matchmaking Market at People’s Square Park

The marriage market is huge in China. Other than online dating sites like zhenai.com (珍爱网), jiayuan.com (世纪佳缘交友网), and baihe.com (百合网); there are also many variety shows on television that allow singles to handpick their dating partners on their own, or women even let their mothers handpick for them. For a look at good ‘ol parents matchmaking for their children, visit the matchmaking market at People’s Square Park (人民公园) on weekends.