Local residents will finally be allowed to do more than just a little window shopping when they visit the city's downtown Duty-Free shop.

　　The store announced yesterday that locals holding a passport and an air ticket to an overseas destination should soon be able to buy goods at the store, which sells more than 100,000 imported brand-name products at far cheaper prices than any other shop in the city.

　　"It's something the shop and many local residents have longed for," said Xie Zhiling, a store official. "It's possible that outbound-trip residents can buy goods at our store in the near future, but at this moment we are still waiting for approval from China's General Administration of Customs."

　　Customers will not be allowed to pick up goods at the store, however, instead they can only receive them at the airport departure lounge, Xie said.

　　Currently, the city's only downtown duty-free shop, which is located at Shanghai Stadium, only permits foreigners and Chinese living overseas or outside the mainland to purchase goods.

　　Prices of the duty-free imported merchandise are about 30 to 50 percent lower than those in normal stores, and 5 percent lower than that at Hongqiao Airport's duty-free shop.

　　Local residents are prevented from buying duty-free goods, which are taxed at a very low rate, and then using them locally so as not to hurt the sales of goods that are taxed at normal rates.

　　The regulation created big headaches for store managers when the shop first opened as many local consumers, unaware of international duty-free practices, complained of the rules barring them from shopping at the shop.