In the 1990s, before Taobao was born, wholesale markets around the world were the most important platform for clothing circulation. Guangzhou, as the city with the highest concentration of garment enterprises, has given birth to wholesale markets represented by Baima and Kapok. Shanghai is a north-south transportation hub, and Qipu Road adjacent to the railway station has become a distribution center radiating east China. More than ten years ago, Qipu Road was called "cheaproad" and was a Taobao destination for people.

 

The birth of Taobao not only robbed the retail business, but also destroyed the agency business of Fan Degui: "What kind of agency do manufacturers need? They open a Taobao store and ship the goods themselves."

 

As a property owner, shopping malls are also trying to change. In 2013, the Saint He Saint on Qipu Road in Shanghai was renovated. In 2015, Triumph City was also renovated. Last year, Lianfu completed the refurbishment. Qin Jianyun works in the market operation department of Lianfu Apparel. He understands that the development of the market towards shopping malls is an inevitable trend. "If you don't transform, you will die. No one is willing to buy things in a messy market." have no idea.

 

One noon in the winter of 2017, Yang Li was sitting in front of her small shop, eating a boxed lunch. This small shop of six or seven square meters located in the prosperous clothing market in Shanghai has not been prosperous for many years. Of the more than a dozen stores next to it, only three or two are still open, and there are few customers.

 

Yang Li has been guarding this small shop for more than ten years. Seven or eight years ago, the market was bustling with people every day, and this scene seemed to be still in front of her eyes. But now, almost all the old neighbors who did the clothing business with Yang Li in the early years have disappeared, some have moved elsewhere, and some have changed their careers.

 

At that time, in Beijing, the relief work of the famous zoo clothing wholesale market (referred to as "Dongbu") had entered the final stage. On November 30, Dongding Mall, the last clothing wholesale market of Dongbu, also closed. So far, 11 wholesale markets and 1 logistics company in the moving approval area have all been closed, and moving approval has become history.

 

As for the Guangzhou clothing wholesale market, which once provided supply for other clothing markets in the country, in addition to the most famous Baima clothing market, the cotton clothing market and a few others are doing well, other small markets are also suffering. Even in the white horse clothing market, its rents are not comparable to those in previous years.

 

Including the Qipu Road clothing wholesale market where prosperity is located, these traditional clothing wholesale markets are now facing the test of the cold winter: to live or to disappear; and to live, how can we get out of the predicament?