Shopping China Style
In HuaDu to me it appeared that in the most buildings with ROAD frontage (as opposed to LAND frontage) devoted the first 3 floors to retail space the balance was residential.
Credit cards and Efpost are rarely used or even accepted. CASH is universally expected, but be warned all large notes- 20, 50 and 100 Yuan notes are inspected because of the number of “Fake” notes in circulation, these will be taken by the banks and destroyed with no compensation.
Haggling is a way of life never accept the first price you are given (unless you are in a fixed price shop) by trying your skills the price will come down to between 10 to 50% of the original price.
Knowing the “Local” language is a big help as not only can you understand and be understood, the starting price is normally lower than for “Non Local People” this can change if you are known to the retailer.
Even wholesalers do not run accounts all transactions are strictly COD and each deal stands alone.
Shops here like birds tend to flock together that is food-shops / markets are grouped together, building supplies are also in groups, this means price comparison and competition is keen and shops are open 7 days opening at 10:00 am and closing LATE!
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Welcome to Herman and Carolann’s Travels to Asia
China 2008