| The shop above, on the left, is the 成斋鞋店 (Chéngzhāi Xiédiàn) founded in Zhoucun. It was a shoe store which made many different styles of shoe, from the ordinary cloth shoes to padded felt boots, from elaborate embroidered slippers to modern dress shoes. It open in 1911, the first year of the Republic of China and went out of business in 1949. The sign on the right simply says "native product" 土产 (tǔchǎn).
The side streets to the west contain more stores and small shops. There is a short street that ran parallel with Qianmen Dajie that used to have an impromptu market and great shopping. That has all but disappeared as the interesting markets are moved out of the reach and more importantly, the eyes, of the tourist. You will have to do some walking toward the west, but if you go to the edge of the Qianmen area you will find many small shops, lots of tourist junk (at much lower prices than in the remodeled high rent district), but also the small shops that serve the neighborhood.
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