The Tibetan market in Shigatse's old quarter is one of the best places in Tibet to buy traditional goods — turquoise and coral jewellery, prayer flags, brass butter lamps, singing bowls, thangka paintings, and hand-woven woollen goods. The vendors are mostly Tibetan traders who come from surrounding areas, and the prices are more negotiable and generally lower than in Lhasa's tourist shops.
The market occupies a network of covered alleys and open stalls in the older part of the city, away from the Chinese commercial centre. Unlike Lhasa's Barkhor, it has not yet been fully polished for tourism, and wandering through it on a busy morning you get a genuine sense of how local commerce works. Pilgrims making for Tashilhunpo pass through, stopping to stock up on butter for the monastery lamps.
Serious buyers should look for older pieces rather than the mass-produced items common near the main entrance. The inner stalls tend to carry better-quality goods. Bargaining is expected and matters — starting prices for jewellery can be three or four times the final figure.