If you are in the area, Dongjiao is a fantastic place to shop. You can find ANYTHING there, you just have to be willing to look for it. Things that you can find include clothes, electronics, birds and fish, wall hangings, incense, tea, any thing needed for a kitchen, tailors (decent quality, 150 RMB for pants, 400 for a suit), cheese, spices, sewing needles and thread, popcorn seeds and salmon just to name a few.

My wife and I do most of our shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables there as well as meat. We have also found good quality beef there that they will grind up for you. The prices are cheaper then both the small vegetable shops and carrefour, and we have never had a problem with quality with the meat or vegetables. One caveat is that if you want to buy your meat, go in the morning when it is freshly butchered, as if you go in the afternoon, it has been sitting in the air all day with out refrigeration.

The other poster is correct about it being dirty. Very Dirty. The main street through is always full of litter, and the buildings are not much cleaner. However, if you have a couple hours to spend, and you live close by, it is worth putting up with the uncleaness of it to get fresh food cheap.

A typical local market where mainly locals would go. But still, it's a good idea to get yourself some nice tea if you live close by, cause there are lots of nice tea shops. The price is NEGOTIABLE and the quality is actually good. Anyway you can just get in one shop and try some their tea. And as a golden rule here, you better prepare to kill the price if you do look very much exotic.