Sidewalk Economy

In a city this large and with this many inhabitants (roughly 20 million), I imagine that there is a need for every kind of service. However, the size of this city also promotes the kind of competition for space that could make it hard to have a profitable business. We understand from our housing agent that commercial sale/rental is very expensive. So for those people who have come from other parts of China to try and take their share of the economic "surpluses" often found in large cities, the concept of store front business is often out of their reach. At this point I have no way of knowing, but I assume that all of the small businesses on the streets are owned and operated by multi generations of one family, and are also their living quarters (as evidenced by an attached kitchen, the doing of laundry during the work day, and the presence of children). If they choose to be their own employers, rather than being one of the legions of people in the service industries, or because they have no "skills," this group of people has resorted to making a living by taking advantage of the large population, and the ability to do business on the street, so to speak. This way, their rent is free, their advertising is free, they can move around to other areas, should business be slow on a given day, and they do not pay tax to the government ( I have not seen any of them hassled by police, so perhaps we can assume that the state tolerates/approves of this form of enterprise). Of course, it is also much harder on the vendor; they need to expend more physical energy to get to their sale spot, there may be an issue with the capital expenditure for their stock, and the need to sell it all before they rebuy, and it must surely only be a subsistence existence. I am however, amazed at the ability to have seized the opportunity to participate in a competitive economy; I can only hope, with my limited understanding of the society and the issues, that this is a system that has more pros than cons.

Here is a list of the types of services that can be found on the sidewalks of Shanghai:

1. Fruit vendors: Aside from the store front vending, what I really mean here are the vendors that have rigged their bikes with a small trailer and that have a scale (sometimes battery operated, sometimes a stick with a weight at the other end, and a string with the produce in the middle) , plastic bags and baskets of fruit in the back. Right now, the trailers are full of peaches, watermelons, grapes and lotus. They are often found in front of the hospital nearby, but you can always find them riding around. There are the odd vendors that have a large pole on their shoulders and balance large baskets of produce on either end.
2. Clothing alteration and mending. In one of the first posts about this city, I mentioned a seamstress on the corner of the street. After talking with a Shanghai local, I understand that she probably lives very near that corner and takes her machine out every day. I'm sure that her clientele knows her quite well and that there is an organized system for dropping off, picking up and measuring garments.
3. Shoe repairs: Very near the entrance of the hotel, and again around the courner from it, are two men sit on a very low stool and have a blanket on the pavement with all types of rubber lifts/heels. They have also another stool with a pair of slippers for their customers to sit while they replace the old lift. I think that they also do some minor gluing.
4. Bicycle tire repairs: I have noticed a number of these on many streets. They are usually equipped with a small seat, a basin with some water in it, and a patch kit or two. While you wait, they will remove the bicycle inner tube, soak it in water to determine the location of the leak, and then repair it.
5. Bicycle repairs- In a neighborhood near one of the apartments that we are considering, we noticed a mechanic and his tools servicing one bicycle customer. Varying parts of the bike were on the ground and another customer waited with his moped.
6. Lottery tickets- Now that I think about it, I'm not sure that they are lottery tickets (I don't know how the state feels about gambling here), but they look like the lottery ticket salesmen that we saw in Mexico and Costa Rica, only less colorful and voluble. What other kinds of tickets could they be selling?
7.Miscellaneous vendors. These enterprising people will sell anything out of a suitcase or on a blanket. We frequenly see watches, CD's DVD's , bags, fans, t-shirts, paintings, baubles from Mongolia, and t-shirts and other items of clothing being sold on all sidewalks and corners.
8. House plant vendors- I think that this is a great idea, but have to admit that I did a double take when I saw the bike trailers of large and small houseplants on the street in a fairly nice neighborhood.
9.Food vendors- the carts selling noodles or these pancake like wraps, appear shortly before lunch and stay though dinner are sometimes at the entrance of alleys, where small tables and chairs pop up for the convenience of their customers. All the carts have wheels so that they can be moved from where the owners live, to where they set up. I have no clue how their ultimate location is determined (other than perhaps by demand- perhaps there is an office building nearby) and whether the vendors live near their "work" spot. Since they have wheels, they could go a fair distance.


I don't think that this list is complete and I reserve the right to add to it later. I have not seen the entire city and it is possible that there are portions of th city where different products are sold according to the inhabitants. There are many other types of activities that occur on that very same sidewalk. These will be the subject of a later post.