When a Window is a Door

What’s the old saying? “When God shuts a door, He opens a window?” Not sure if that applies here, but this is the “door” of a small clothing shop here in Shanghai:

That’s right, you step on the little footstool and climb in through the window. There is no other door that customers have access to.

Shops like this used to have their storefronts on the street, spilling out onto the sidewalk. These were the charming little local shopping options that China is known for. But in recent years, the government has been closing many shops like that, and even bricking up patios that used to be used to (technically illegally) sell stuff.

But bricking up a storefront doesn’t always mean that you can’t sell stuff at all. As you can see.

P.S. This is not a new phenomenon. I just haven’t commented on it before, and happened to snap this photo the other day.