Tailors also require customers to return at least once for a fitting before pronouncing a suit or shirt finished. That can mean two or three visits -- each of them lasting at least a full day -- before it's done. Some Hong Kong residents never make it back to the shop to pick up their clothes.
Hong Kong shopkeepers also maintain that Shenzen's prices are low for good reason, so there's little chance it will dethrone the former British colony as one of Asia's prime shopping destinations, said Yu Pang Chun, chairman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.
"People are realizing the quality of the products in Shenzhen is not what they expected," he said. A three-year bout of deflation in Hong Kong also means the city is becoming more affordable, Yu said.
In the meantime, Bowers, the founder of Sisters of Sharon, a popular Hong Kong band, travels to Shenzhen twice a month for costumes to use when she performs with her new band, Thinking Out Loud. She snagged a red Tina Turner-style wig on her last trip for HK$150 (US$20) -- half the asking price.
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