Shopping in Chinatown

You might not exactly think “Chinatown” when you think about New York City shopping. However, next time you’re in New York City, take the subway to Canal Street. When you exit the station, you will feel as if you have somehow been magically transported to Hong Kong. Signs are in an unfamiliar language, people are speaking Chinese, whole ducks are roasting in windows, and fresh fish and exotic produce is being sold on the streets. It’s noisy, it’s crowded, it’s got a pungent aroma – it’s New York’s Chinatown!

Having always heard that Chinatown is the place to go for bargains, we ventured from our hotel in search of authentic Chinese food, fake designer merchandise, and cheap souvenirs. There’s something about a subway ride that makes you hungry, so our first order of business upon emerging from the station was to find something to eat. After downing a most excellent bowl of dim sum at a little place that we can’t even begin to remember the name of, we decided to see just what kind of bargains were to be found.

The first thing we noticed was the variety of produce. There seemed to be at least two or three produce stands on every street. Most stocked the typical variety of fruits and vegetables accompanied with some items that would seem more commonplace in a Star Trek movie than your typical neighborhood grocery.

We inquired about a fruit that looked like a cross between an artichoke and a pink hand grenade. The lady cut us a sample, guaranteeing that we’d like it. It tasted sort of like a kiwi but with the texture of a crisp pear. Delicious! Next, we sampled a fruit called a rambutan, which looks like a pink and green blowfish and tasted something like a plum. We thanked the lady for the samples and started to move on. She seemed a little agitated that we didn’t want to buy anything, especially after telling her that we liked the samples. We explained that we were staying in a hotel and didn’t have any place to store any produce. She then tried to sell us some live frogs for only $3.19 per pound. We told her that we’d check on the Crown Plaza’s live frog policy and get back to her.

Many of the shops in Chinatown are in nothing more than a small garage. Most vendors carry a variety of merchandise, such as purses, sunglasses, DVDs, perfume, cell phone covers, jewelry, and so on. We quickly learned not to pick anything up unless we were really serious about purchasing it. To the vendors, touching something means that you are interested in owning it, making you the target of their high-pressure sales pitch. We found the best way to get out of such encounters was to offer to pay some ridiculous price that they’d never accept.

Viewfinder Tip: If you haggle, you can usually purchase merchandise for 30-50% less than the initial quoted price.

We were expecting to find shops stocked with knock-off designer handbags, sunglasses, and watches, but it seemed that none were to be found. We couldn’t even find a shady-looking character wearing a trench coat asking us if we’d like to buy a Rolex. Turns out that there’s more to shopping in Chinatown than what the movies would have us believe. After about a half-hour of searching, we encountered a couple with heavy New York accents and figured them to be locals. We were right! They told us that bootleg items could still be found but that the city had been cracking down on the practice.

So, much to Rick’s dismay, we abandoned our quest for knock-off merchandise. Our travel budget certainly didn’t include bail money anyway. We still had a blast meandering through the random merchandise selections. Some of the more unique items we found were hand-painted scrolls, miniature sculptures, bonsai trees, teas, and spices. The only thing we actually purchased was a $3.99 pair of flip flops that we got for only $3.00 – that’s less than the price of a live frog!

Though our Chinatown shopping experience wasn’t quite what we had expected based on Hollywood movies, it was a far cry from the suburban shopping malls back home. Those experiences are what make travel great.