How to shop at Xiu Shiu Jie?

9 November 2008

I went to 秀水街 today with Jordy, Leonard, Han Wei and Bill. 秀水街 is one of the largest shopping malls in Beijing for the tourists.

The sales girls at 秀水街 were multi-lingual. This is due to the fact that mny tourists visit 秀水街 every day. The sales girls were able to converse in Spanish, French, English and German, although most of them can only converse in English and Chinese. Research had to be done beforehand to find out the prices of the products that we wanted to buy. This incuded asking previous buyers about the price range for the product offered by different store owners. Once we found out the range of prices for the products we wanted to buy, we would quote the lowest possible price to the shop owners to see if they will sell it to us.

The general rule of thumb is that the shop owners will quote prices of around 10 times the price they bought it for. But if you stick to your price, you will most probably get it unless the price you quote is much too low.

If you do not get the price you want at first, do not fret. Many other shops will probably sell the same thing you want to buy. So you should just be patient and continue searching for the same object at other shops.You can say that previous shops have given you a low price and yet you didn't buy. This way, they might just let you have what you want at the price that you want. Choosing the goods you want to buy is also important.

You should not buy everything you see but instead prioritise what you want to spend on and plan your budget accordingly.

Here are some pointers for the prices at 秀水街. Prices for shirts should not go above 40 RMB unless it is a long sleeved shirt. Jackets should not go above 80 RMB also. Shoes should be bought for not more than 70 RMB. But then again, I am not Jiaquan!

Thank you!
Jonathan