Looking for a cheap start-up business in China? Buying an old Covid-19 testing booth as your office might save your new company big bucks.

Thousands of Covid-19 testing booths have been abandoned in China and are being bought up by some cash-strapped entrepreneurs to be makeshift guard booths, food stalls, neighborhood libraries, tourist-information booths, travel agencies, and even employment centers.

Chinese citizens used to be forced to stand outside these booths in lines of hundreds and even thousands, but today they are empty and abandoned. Some are even being used to store gardening tools.

Now the government is starting to sell the booths and prices are starting at around $50 USD. The scrap metal alone is worth more than that. In Suzhou, for instance, a major Chinese city in Jiangsu Province, the booths have been repurposed as convenience stores for rushing pedestrians to buy small items on the go.

In another instance, 10 booths were lined up in a small urban neighborhood and were equipped with computers, printers, blood-pressure monitors, and staffed by medical professionals to act as mini-pharmacies.

Purchasing Covid-19 booths can be pretty easy.  Most large cities have officials posted close to transportation centers that can point potential buyers in the right direction.