Millions living near border now buy their groceries in Hong Kong

Every Saturday, Angela Zhang leaves her home in Shenzhen with a large, empty suitcase. When she returns from Hong Kong in the afternoon, it is bulging with cosmetics products, bottles of wine, cooking oil and sometimes even rolls of tissue paper.

This has been a routine for the 35-year-old for more than five years. "Almost all the daily necessities we use at home are from Hong Kong."

Zhang is far from the only person doing this.

While much attention and anger has been focused on parallel traders who stock up on products like baby milk formula for resale across the border, shopping in Hong Kong has become a monthly, or even weekly, affair for many middle-class households in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta. Their shopping list is no longer limited to luxury goods or big-ticket items, but almost every daily necessity one can imagine.

In practice, this adds several millions regular customers to Hong Kong's retail market. While it may be good news for shop owners and landlords, the huge influx has created a shortage for Hongkongers, who find they have to compete with mainland shoppers for infant formula and many other products.

For most shoppers from Shenzhen, the city is simply a place to regularly stock up on bargains.