People choose clothes at the Shanghai South Bund Soft-Spinning Material Market, which moved to a new location on Dongjiadu Road over the weekend. Prices at the market are expected to rise to cover higher rents. (Photo: Shanghai Daily)

   BEIJING, April 3 -- Want an elegant qipao, a trendy suit or safari togs?

   Those with a penchant for tailor-made cloths will have to look around a bit to find the city's famous fabric market, which moved over the weekend to a new location about 500 meters from its old site on Dongjiadu Road.

   Many vendors say they will keep prices down to encourage customers to seek out the new location.

   Keeping prices down will be tough in the long run, however, as rents at the new location are higher than they were at the old market.

   The new market officially opens on April 15.

   The new indoor facility, called Shanghai South Bund Soft-Spinning Material Market, started trial operation on Saturday at 399 Lujiabang Road. It moved after the old site - the city's top spot for raw textile goods and made-to-order garments - was emptied on Friday to make way for a renewal project.

   However, bargain hunters on Saturday could hardly make a purchase at the new site, because most of the stores were either empty or being decorated for the new business. They moved on Friday night.

   Zhou Meiping, a Thai-silk dealer who rented two stores in the new facility, said that one store was finished and the second store was being renovated. "The new rent is 20 percent higher than that at the old market, but I won't hike prices because that could drive away regular clients," Zhou said.

   Zhou predicted a tough time in coming months because some regular customers at the old shop might not be able to find the new site.

   A silk dealer who ran a 9-square-meter store at the closed Dongjiadu bazaar, used to generate sales of 10,000 yuan (US$1,235) in a single day. Silk fabrics at her store cost from 30 yuan a meter to more than 100 yuan - more than 30 percent less than those at major silk stores such as the Shanghai Silk Commercial Building Co Ltd on Nanjing Road E.

   Although the new market wasn't yet ready to receive consumers during the weekend, some old fans still couldn't wait to see what the business looks like indoors.

   One Western visitor said the new site was modern, but went on to add that "it's a little sad because the other site shows the old Shanghai." Enditem