The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 165: Shanghai Flea Market
Shanghai was considered an industrialized city in the 1970s, so its specialties were also industrial products.

Watches, bicycles and sewing machines are all well-known brands in Shanghai.

Jiang Cheng still couldn't buy anything at the supply and marketing cooperative in Shanghai except some toothpaste and toothbrushes that didn't require tickets.

However, this trip to the supply and marketing cooperative was not in vain. The salesperson in the cooperative told Jiang Cheng that if he had money and wanted to buy some rare things to take back, he could go to the second-hand market in Shanghai.

In Shanghai, people can actually trade. If you have something you want to sell, you can go to some second-hand goods markets to consign it. But you have to pay a 14% consignment fee, but it limits things like food.

In addition, the salesperson of the supply and marketing cooperative also kindly introduced Jiang Cheng to the Shanghai second-hand goods exchange store in the early 1970s. Although there are several second-hand goods markets in Shanghai, the nature of each market is slightly different.

The best place is the state-owned Huaihai Second-hand Goods Store, abbreviated as Huaiguojiu, which has the most second-hand goods and is located in the HP area.

But the second-hand goods exchange store in XH District is also worth a visit, because there are confiscated items for sale there. Especially in the past two years, it was very lively there, many rich people had their homes confiscated for some reason, and although many people fled overseas, many things could not be taken away.

Therefore, in the second-hand goods exchange store in the XH area, although many good things have been bought, there are still many good things.

Especially furniture, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, there are a lot of them.

As for Huaihai Thrift Store, it is suitable for you to go there if you want to buy second-hand industrial products, such as clocks, cameras, musical instruments, bicycles, radios, sewing machines, etc. There are also some clothes, which are relatively high-end, such as leather shoes, hats, suits, skirts and so on.

Jiang Cheng really didn't understand this era, he didn't expect there was such a market. It's just that they are all state-owned, which means you can't sell things privately, but you can consign them.

But no matter what, this is a place where transactions can be conducted in an open and aboveboard manner. If you buy something, you will be issued an invoice, which will give Jiang Cheng an incentive to make money.

After thanking the salesperson at the supply and marketing cooperative, Jiang Cheng headed directly to the XH area.

When you arrive at the XH area, just ask anyone nearby and they will know where the second-hand goods exchange store is.

After finding the second-hand goods exchange store, I found that there were so many things here, all kinds of things, including furniture, books, musical instruments, radios, etc.

Some of these things are negotiable, while others are priced directly and do not allow bargaining.

Musical instruments like the erhu, violin and piano, as well as some porcelain and calligraphy and paintings, are all negotiable.

But for furniture, some furniture made of not precious wood, there is basically no room for bargaining. But for some furniture made of good materials, the price will be slightly higher, but there is still a little room for bargaining, but the space is relatively small.

If Jiang Cheng had known that there were all kinds of furniture for sale here, he would not have hired a carpenter to make furniture. At least for the same price, even if he bought a set of old furniture, at least it was made of high-end materials.

The furniture was mainly made by hired carpenters. The workmanship was good, but the style was too old-fashioned for Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng bought two "old" chairs here. They were not cheap and were not made of high-quality wood. Each chair cost 15 yuan. However, the workmanship was quite exquisite and they even had carved patterns.

Last time when I made furniture, I didn't think so much about it. Jiang Cheng planned to put one by the desk, and the other one could be taken outside to sit on. Especially when it gets cold in the future, it would be much more comfortable to sit on a chair outside in the sun than a stool. Jiang Cheng also saw a lot of old radios and sewing machines here. These were already bought at home, so there was no need to buy more.

But Jiang Cheng saw that there were second-hand pocket watches for sale here, some ordinary and some exquisite, some domestically produced and some from overseas.

The cheapest ones are ten yuan, and the most expensive ones can cost several hundred yuan.

Jiang Cheng picked out a second-hand pocket watch of Shanghai brand because it looked very new. According to the salesperson, it was consigned here by someone.

In order to sell the items on consignment sooner, the price will usually be slightly lower than the same product in the store.

It only cost 45 yuan to buy it. Jiang Cheng planned to give it to Zhou Lingying. A pocket watch is much more romantic than a wristwatch. Moreover, if you buy it here, you don't need a ticket. If you buy a new one, it's not much cheaper than a watch.

After buying things here, Jiang Cheng felt that there was really nothing he wanted to buy, so he took the things he bought to the HP area.

When he arrived at Huaiguojiu in Huangpu District, he found a large store of more than 1,000 square meters. No wonder the salesperson recommended him to come here when he was in the supply and marketing cooperative.

There are more and more complete varieties of things here, and bicycles are placed at the door, but the quality is not very good.

It’s not that there are no good goods here, it’s just that it depends on luck to get good goods. Some things that are in short supply and of good quality will be sold out very quickly once they come in here.

There are also confiscated items here, but the goods here are more industrialized.

Here Jiang Cheng picked out a camera, a Seagull brand, which was in very new condition. But taking photos with cameras of that era required skill, and attention had to be paid to the focus and lighting. It was not like the mobile phones of later times, where you could set up various settings directly on the phone, and even beautify the photos for you.

There are many second-hand clothes in the store, such as fur coats and jackets, which Jiang Cheng doesn't mind buying second-hand. But Jiang Cheng is not interested in second-hand clothes such as shirts and pants.

As for clothes, Jiang Cheng picked two military coats to wear when it gets cold. He also chose a coat that was popular in Shanghai at that time. Some people are born with a natural hanger on clothes, and they can wear them very well even if the clothes are tacky.

After shopping, Jiang Cheng went to Hucheng's department store. The department store sells cameras and film for photography. Apart from department stores, only state-owned photo studios sell film. Department stores are easy to find, so it's natural to buy in department stores.

The whole morning was gone just by this. Jiang Cheng didn't want to delay any longer as he would have plenty of opportunities to come here and buy things in the future.

Driving directly to the foreign trade warehouse in Baoshan District, Jiang Cheng wanted to get some Dacron back, but he couldn't think of a good way along the way. Apart from bribery, it might not work. It felt immoral to use space to take one away.

Jiang Cheng thought about his abilities and realized that he would have plenty of ways to do it even after this era, so he gave up the idea of ​​stealing.

Moreover, as a member of the General Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Jiang Cheng would have the opportunity to get some of the 'Dacron' that was transferred back for domestic sales.

So I didn't do anything. I just arrived at the foreign trade warehouse, handed in the list, loaded the goods, and left.

(End of this chapter)