Bring your own bottle stall the most popular at Pudong fair
Crowds gather at the stall for lingkao laundry detergents and fabric softeners.
The traditional "lingkao" lifestyle is gaining in popularity once again.
Lingkao 零拷 is a frugal way of shopping which sells by weight rather than pre-packaged. It faded out, but has returned with the rise of green lifestyles.
Shanghai Soap Co Ltd is one of the forerunners of the retro trend.
After its lingkao service gained popularity at its stores in Puxi, it expanded the service to Pudong over the weekend.
It set up a stall at a community fair in the Huamu Subdistrict, selling laundry detergent and fabric softener, priced from 4.9 (US$0.68) to 7.9 yuan for 500 grams. It became the most popular of 30-plus stalls.
Customers' bottles are filled at the stall.
"I saw the news some days ago. I especially prepared some empty plastic bottles," said a middle-aged man surnamed Ding who brought five 5-liter bottles. "Not only my family, my neighbors also told me to get some for them."
A woman surnamed Zhang, in her 60s, said the stall reminded her of her childhood. "I haven't experienced it for so many years. It's nearly half the price of the bottled ones."
The Pudong Women's Federation said that, besides such pop-up fairs, permanent stalls with lingkao services are available at Huamu Subdistrict Women and Children Family Service Center and the B1 floor of Sunshine Paradise mall in Tangzhen Town.
