qipu

Lisa, who has just been in Shanghai for a month told me today.

‘Guess what, I went to Qipu Road and I bought 10 clothes!’

‘How did you get there?’

‘Easy! Tell the taxi driver CHEAP LU while pointing to my shirt!’

That is clever! Yes, Qipu Road in Chinese pronounces exactly like CHEAP LU. Qipu Road is the largest clothing wholesale and retail market in Shanghai. It is situated right in the city centre (near Suzhou Creek). So it is always a good place to go if you want to open a clothes shop or need to shop for a big family (find Map here).

There are a number of shopping malls in Qipu Road where you will find thousands of clothing vendors selling all kinds of stuffs, clothes, shoes, accessories, pants everything related. Like most wholesale markets in Shanghai, it is messy, crowded, dirty, loud etc.

It is not like the A.P. Plaza at the Shanghai Science & Technology Metro station or previous famous Xiangyang Market targeting the foreign visitors and selling all kinds of fake branded stuffs. Most stuffs in Qipu Road are local brands which I’ve never heard before. Local people come here are not for brands, but for something value for money.

So Cheap (or low price with reasonable quality) like its name is the biggest selling point of Qipu Road. Usually the lower floors (1-2 floor) of each building sell really cheap and fast fashion clothing, which attracts teenagers. Stuffs in those lower floors won’t cost more than 100RMB or even 50RMB, I was told by some ‘insiders’.

But on upper floors (3-5 floor), you might find some really good stuffs, good quality, good design and good price if you are good at bargain. And also some so called foreign traded clothes, like those fake brands in A.P. Plaza.

One of my friends, who runs her own online clothes store told me if you really want something good and unique, you should go there in the very early morning (3 or 4am). When the really good stuffs arrive in the morning, they will be taken by those private shop owners in a minute.

As I said before, don’t expect too much about the shopping environment. Most shops don’t provide any fitting rooms or sometimes you can’t even try them.

The closest Metro Station is Qufu Road Station (Metro Line 8 ) and walk towards to the East for about 10 - 15 minutes. (Find direction by Metro here and market photos)

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