Booth owners in Shanghai's Xiangyang market are grasping the last chance to attract customers by sharply reducing their prices, since the market will be shut down on Friday, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

In one booth, the price of a dress dropped to 70 yuan (US$8.75) while last week it was 290 yuan. The price of sports shoes also dived by 50 percent. Customers can buy three pairs of sunglasses with 100 yuan while the original price was 180 yuan for one pair.

A lot of people went shopping at the market in the past couple of days, including many foreigners.

One foreign tourist carried a suitcase as she would go back to her home country at night. She said she wanted to bring some presents back to her friends. "I was here yesterday and bought a lot of things. The owners offered me a very low price, so I've come back again," she said.

Another customer said she was just accompanying her friend to the market, but when she saw the low prices, she couldn't help buying things.

"It's very economical to buy three pairs of trousers with 100 yuan," she said

The Xiangyang market is famous among both domestic and foreign tourists for cheap goods and counterfeit products.

The booth owners will move to other areas after the market is shut down, including Pudong area and Longhua area.

(Shanghai Daily June 28, 2006)