I can see clearly now

Get your bargaining pants on we're headed to the copy mart in Shanghai. The copy mart has three floors of stall after stall of purses, shoes, sports jerseys, headphones, gadgets, scarves, toys, DVDs, prescription glasses and more. It can be kind of overwhelming with a lot of customers browsing and seller trying to get you to come into their particular shop. On this trip J wanted to get a new coat (that was our second stop for the day, I'll have to write about the fabric market another time) and we were both interested in getting a new pair of glasses.


My bargaining buddy :)

Bargaining is a game to see who can get the best deal. It is one of my least favorite games to play, but in China "everything is negotiable". I suppose this means that I am going to have to do some reading and then practice my bargaining skills. My current method of bargaining is: make J do all the talking. So far it is working out pretty well for me :) I have done a little bit of reading on the subject (here) and my search came up with many other options (here & here are just a couple). The thing that I have to remember is 'there are many stalls so I can always walk away'.

When we arrived some of the stalls were open, but not everything so we didn't have a lot of options. I think it was the third glasses stall that we looked at that I found a pair of frames that I liked. J asked, dou shao qian? how much? Before the seller answered he took my current glasses and measured the lenses, then gave a price. J said no, there was some back and forth. The seller didn't want to come down, so we started to walk away but he followed us. As we got farther away his price got lower right to the spot we were both comfortable with.

First you have to look at the green dot in the gray thing that J is looking into in the picture above. They find the sample lenses that fit your prescription and you have to try on the sample glasses that are gray and orange in the other picture above. If it is all clear you pay, get a receipt and they tell you to be back in thirty minutes.

I had a lot of fun trying on many different styles of glasses and sun glasses.


This is my favorite photo of the day!

The wining frames!

I bought the above frames, J got a pair of glasses and he also order a pair of prescription sunglasses. The sunglasses are going to be mailed to our house because they didn't have the lens he needed in stock.  Overall we are both very happy with our purchases.


(Copy mart address: 580 Nanjing West Road | 南京西路580号).