A Shopper's Guide to Shenzhen

Sporting my tailor-made Burberry coat in New York a few weeks later

View larger photo 

I’ve discussed my ‘inner fat kid’ at various points in this blog, but Shenzhen unleashed another ‘inner’ trait – that of my ‘inner girl’: someone who loves and adores shopping and clothes. (Unfortunately, the two ‘inners’ often conflict in nature, as clothes don’t fit quite as well when my inner fat kid develops ‘outer’ traits…). South Africa introduced me to a world where clothes actually fit young women like me, because, well, African women have curves in similar places. And now, every time I travel to a foreign country, a little voice inside me says, ‘OH! Yay! Cheap clothes that fit and look better on me than American designs! Hoorah!’

Shenzhen, a Special Economic Zone about a half hour train ride away from Hong Kong, is renowned for its shopping. In some ways, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and in other ways, it was a huge headache. The following column is to advise people how to/how not to spend time in Shenzhen.

First, if you are an American, make SURE you have a Chinese visa with at least one entry on it.

Shenzhen is in mainland China. I was told I could get a temporary day pass to Shenzhen at little cost. FALSE. This is true for people of any other nationality, but not for Americans. If you are American, a day-trip to Shenzhen will eat up one of your visa entries to China. Expediting a second visa (if you don’t plan properly) will cost you around $200. I almost had a heart attack. So plan properly.

Getting to Shenzhen is straightforward: take the KCR train (I took it from Kowloon Station, although I believe there are other stops in Hong Kong before entering the mainland) from Hong Kong, and the last stop is Shenzhen. Once you get out of the train station, you will see a seven-story building directly to your right with a huge sign saying somethingsomething ‘shopping center.’ Ignore all the people who offer to take you there – you’re just asking for a huge headache. Head straight to the building.

The center is totally overwhelming: aisles and aisles of shops, many of them selling the exact same things, while vendors shout, “MISSY! MISSY! You like Versace bag, come I show you at good price.” While it’s easy to filter out the shouting, I lost patience when vendors had the audacity to grab my wrists and arms – a big no-no to a musician – at which point I sternly fired “Do NOT grab me.” Usually, they laughed in embarrassment and relented.

I had no idea what to expect in terms of items, so I wandered for about twenty minutes while getting accustomed to my surroundings. I learned Shenzhen is good if you’re looking for the following items:

- Suitcases
- Name-brand Bags and Purses of amazing quality (many made with genuine leather…think Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, etc)
- Leather Wallets
- Leather Belts
- ‘Name-brand’ watches (rip-offs, of course, but you can still find some gems)
- Fake Tiffany’s jewelry
- Electronics…though I wouldn’t trust them
- Tailor-made suits or coats
- Shoes. They are not great quality, but you find cute stuff here and there.
- Massages for about $25/hour

You should NOT go to Shenzhen if you are interested in finding a new wardrobe beyond suits and coats. The pants, shirts, skirts…not attractive. At all. Essentially, it’s an accessories place + suits and coats.

This is how I spent my day:

I first bought a suitcase on the first floor. They sell them everywhere. Tip: most vendors sell the same four models of suitcases, so bargain with one vendor and then go to another and say ‘so and so offered me ‘x’ price; can you give me a better price?’. Usually you can. A good-quality suitcase should cost you around $15-20 if you negotiate well. I paid $25 and am angry because I know my negotiation tactics were mediocre. Oh well.

Then I went to the top floor; the top two or three floors generally sell the nicest stuff. In addition to selling bags, the top floor is filled with great tailors (although if you’re looking for cashmere or suede coats, get them made at the materials market in Shanghai) who are usually able to deliver your items to Hong Kong within a couple days. If you have a design in mind, bring a picture of what you’d like to have made, and they’ll do it for you; they’ll take your measurements, let you pick out the fabric, and then make an exact replica of the picture. Otherwise, they usually have books filled with magazine clippings of different coat designs; just choose one and they’ll make it. I should also add that bargaining is completely different with tailors; don’t expect to get a huge mark-down in prices, if at all.

I had two coats made – one Burberry raincoat and one white wool pea coat. I ordered the coats at 3 pm and had them delivered to my hotel at 5 pm the following day. The quality is stunning: the workmanship on both is gorgeous – the linings impeccable, the fit perfect. My recommendation: go to the vendors and use your gut to see who is reliable and who is not. It was risky getting the coats delivered to my hotel, but the wife of the tailor I met ran those sorts of errands every day, and my gut said he was good news. And he was. (Though I don’t have his business card or remember his name).

As for the rest: bargain, bargain, bargain!

I spent seven hours in the mall, stuffing my suitcase slowly but surely with the following: four (gorgeous leather) Dolce and Gabbana bags; tons of Tiffany’s jewelry; three leather belts; four leather wallets; two sets of pearl earrings and necklaces; five pairs of shoes; three watches (one ‘Gucci’ that clouds up all the time – really funny); a Kipling bag; and a Northface backpack. And the coats. I spent a lot of money – I nearly had a heart attack when I figured out how much I spent – but compared to US prices, my expenditures were laughable.

Here are bargaining techniques I found helpful:

Act really, really uninterested. I got my best prices at the end of the day, when I wasn’t looking for anything in particular and didn’t really feel like buying…but then they’d show me something I liked, and I’d make a ridiculously low offer and walk away if they didn’t relent…eventually I got what I wanted.

Walk away a lot.

Drop the price really low, but not ridiculously so. You should be able to buy everything at about 30-40% of what they offer. Sometimes I paid over 50% of the asking price and felt gypped.

“I am a student” works pretty well at times.

Buy in bulk. I bought my four Dolce bags for a total of $54. The vendor looked pissed. I was thrilled.

Always remember – if you REALLY want something and can’t seem to get it at the right price, there will be another vendor nearby (perhaps on the same floor, and if not, on a floor above or below) where you can negotiate further for the same items.

Focus on one thing at a time…at least at the beginning. It is easy to get overwhelmed to the point of a migraine. If you narrow your task and know what you’re looking for, it’ll make everything go by a lot faster. And if you still feel the migraine coming on, there are plenty of vendors that offer ridiculously cheap massages.

Finally, don’t buy a ridiculous number of bags or wallets or any one thing in particular; US customs gets suspicious if you have more than two or three of anything. I didn’t have any problems, but it would be a shame to negotiate all day, only to have everything taken away.

So: would I recommend Shenzhen? Yes, if you prepare yourself properly. You can probably find all the same stuff in Hong Kong, but it would require a lot more running around town. But if you are a person who gets easily frustrated with bargaining and easily overwhelmed by volume, your time is better spent exploring Hong Kong and Kowloon’s shopping scene.

As for me? I was utterly exhausted when I came back, but after taking one more look at my purchases, my inner girl was thrilled.