The two shopping districts of Guangzhou that are arguably worth visiting would be the Beijing Road Pedestrian Mall and the Shangxiajiu District. Both are built very similar; wide streets and old Cantonese styled buildings. They both have adorned themselves with red lanterns and run very long. Even as I sift through my memories, I am unsure which places I had visited. In hours of high traffic, the streets are bustling with people. Had they not sealed the entrances off barring any sort of vehicle to enter, it would have been highly dangerous.
I am not so much a shopping guru like you see on television and my haul posts are more or less stuff I need. Even as I shop, I'm learning a lot of new things. In my previous entry, I showed you my book haul which you can read about here. Almost every time I go back, I like to buy some books even though it ends up adding ten fifteen pounds to my luggage. Even as I buy more and more things from Miniso, there are always endless choices to browse and purchase.
One of my now favorite shops to visit on Beijing Road is KM Kilo and Meters. They are a Nordic fashion brand developed exclusively for the Chinese market. Almost all their information directs to China and it doesn't appear that they plan to market to a non-Chinese audience. Their official contacts are Twitter, Youtube, their own official website. They specialize only in men's fashion mostly in street wear. I asked one of the staff about how long they had been established and they said they had opened for two years at the time. I had no idea that I had missed them in 2015 when I was back.
I took an instant liking to their stuff and I swear it was not because they had a huge sale on T-shirts. Mind you I went back in late autumn of 2016. They needed to get rid of the summer stock. The price tags on my T-shirts were 69 RMB(10.78 USD). It had cool designs and it was 100% cotton. Sounds great already. When I got to the register, the prices immediately became 29 RMB (4.33 USD). Holy crap I had no idea it was going to be that cheap. Had I bought something similar at Hot Topic, it would have been five times the price or even more.
As I browsed some more, they KM had put out their latest autumn fashion. Things like jackets and denim were on their promotion rack. I came across a bomber jacket made in artificial leather. This looked like something they would sell in H&M. I thought long and hard if I really needed one back home in the States and decided "You know what? Fuck it. I'm gonna buy this." At a handsome 339 RMB (50.59 USD), I took it off the rack. The one thing I regret now was not buying more stuff, because they were having a promotion where if you spend over a certain amount, you can get a free pair of shoes or something. I should have gotten those shoes.
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| One of those rare moments where you get empty space instead of people. |
It's very common in Guangzhou when you shop in larger stores or boutiques, staff will accompany you. This may weird some people out as in America, people like to be left alone. Unless you shop regularly at Barneys and Saks Fifth Ave, I'm referring to the typical middle wage crowd in this case. The aesthetic in China is different. To me, it was kind of a cool experience because staff practically treated me like king even though I may have bought only one item. They hold stuff for you when you want to try an item in front of a mirror and almost always make sure you don't have to hold a shopping basket. At KM, staff were happy to put my items behind the register as I browse around.
They are one of the few businesses that allows returns on merchandise. Perhaps in your country it is common to get a return/exchange for purchased items, it is not common in Asian countries. Please do not go around shopping expecting everything to be returnable. Nearly everything is final sale.
If you follow them on Wechat and become a member, you earn points and earn access to member only discounts. The same goes for KM. As I was looking around, a lot of the original prices were on the high end. When I sat down and signed up as a member, I immediately received 50% off on one shirt and 40% on another.
As you walk along Beijing Road, you find things that sometimes don't seem to belong like the many New Balance imitation shops. It is only recently that New Balance was able to successfully sue and win the lawsuit. You can read about it here. Parasite brands as the article describes is another form of counterfeit. It is due to the loopholes in laws that allowed these trademarks to thrive. You will see a lot of different parasite brands wherever you go. In Guangzhou, I still see a lot, but at the same time it does seem to diminish a bit each year as old brands die out and are replaced with new ones. Hopefully the New Balance win is a beginning for other trademarks to beat out the counterfeit.
For the tourists looking for beauty related items, you may want to visit a Watsons. This one is a Hong Kong based pharmacy chain that sells health and beauty items. I've gotten a few things like blotting papers, pore strips, and skin care items. Prices are somewhat on par with American prices if not lower depending on the brand.
Another pharmacy chain I like to visit is Mannings, another Hong Kong based health and beauty store. Both Watsons and Mannings are quite similar, the only difference being the brands they carry. I forget which one supplies more local Guangdong brands.
I tend to buy a lot of Chinese medicine every time I visit China. Some brands here work better for me than the ones in the States. However there is one I frequent each time called Tong Ren Tang. This one is particularly famous in mainland China and among Chinese overseas mainly for its long standing historical origins. A quick pull up of a Wikipedia article will tell you that Tong Ren Tang was established in the year 1669 with its headquarters in Beijing. This old company engaged in the manufacturing of Chinese traditional medicines. It is well noted that they were the main supplier of medicines to the Emperor and his Imperial Court until the collapse of the Qing dynasty.
It should come to no surprise that with modernization of society, old businesses like Tong Ren Tang would struggle to survive. As a frequent patron of some sorts, I've watched Tong Ren Tang expand as a brand and a business. They first decided to register the name, Tong Ren Tang, as a trademark. This is particularly important as many false businesses try to affiliate themselves with the original. I've seen it too many times where owners dress their shop up so much so they could sell their products that are in no way related to Tong Ren Tang. Everyone says that they sell TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), but does it really work as good as Tong Ren Tang's?
Over the years, I've seen Tong Ren Tang expand their variety of products to adapt to the ever changing market. The traditional medicinal teas are too bitter for the young people and for someone who works long hours, he/she doesn't have time to boil the medicine. Instead there are now options that comes in pill form, capsule form, and other forms depending on the nature of the medicine. Tong Ren Tang has a line of skincare with ingredients based on TCM. They now have facilities overseas dedicated to studying TCM that wasn't possible before. If you ask me, that's quite an achievement considering that TCM is part of China's cultural heritage.
There are several Tong Ren Tangs in Guangzhou and they have many locations all across China. Sometimes you may see them occupy a space in a plaza or a mall. If you happen to chance upon a non-Tong Ren Tang location that sells their products, please remember to look for the registered trademark and any extra seals and stickers. Watch out for counterfeit!
Now that I've recalled my shopping memories, I'm eager to go back again for another haul. After all, my "haul" is nothing compared to vloggers that have overstuffed their luggages with products unattainable in their home country. Join me next time on another exciting day in Guangzhou!
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Places Visited
KM Kilo and Meters
265 号，北京路 ，越秀区，广州市，广东省，中国，510000
265 Beijing Rd, Yuexiu Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510000
161 号，第十甫路 ，上下九，荔湾区，广州市，广东省，中国，510000
161 Di Shi Fu Lu, ShangXiaJiu, Liwan Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510000
Metersbonwe
249 号，北京路 ，越秀区，广州市，广东省，中国，510000
249 Beijing Rd, Yuexiu Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510000
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