Haizhu Square & Yide Lu Markets

For a fashion buyer the relevant floors are fashion jewellery and accessories: earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hair accessories, scarves, belts, sunglasses, phone accessories and bag charms. Depth of range here is exceptional — a single floor can hold thousands of variants of one product type.

Beyond that the district covers home decoration and artificial flowers, souvenirs and giftware, party and seasonal decorations, packaging and display materials, and the toys trade that Yide Lu is best known for domestically.

It is also the natural companion to a clothing buy. Retailers putting together a season's accessories to sit alongside apparel generally do it here, in one visit, rather than chasing individual categories across the city.

Small-commodities wholesale works in inner packs. A minimum is usually one inner box — commonly a dozen, two dozen or a hundred pieces depending on the item — rather than a single unit. Prices per piece are low and the margin for a retailer is generous, which is the whole basis of the trade.

Quality varies and is broadly visible in the price. For fashion jewellery specifically, ask about plating and about nickel content if you sell into the EU or UK, where nickel release is regulated. A supplier who cannot speak to this is one to avoid for anything worn against skin.

The buildings are well organised by category and the vendors are used to international buyers, which makes this one of the more approachable Guangzhou markets for someone sourcing here for the first time.

Haizhu Square station on Metro Lines 2 and 6 exits within a few minutes' walk of OneLink Plaza and the Yide Lu strip. The market trades roughly 09:00 to 19:00, daily, including public holidays — unusually long and reliable hours for Guangzhou.

The wedding dress street on Jiangnan Dadao Bei is a ten-minute walk across Haizhu Bridge, which makes the two an easy pairing for a single afternoon.