Overview of the Shanghai Shopping Scene

With Shanghai undergoing almost daily transformation, streets that used to be boutique shopping destinations for great deals are quickly being uprooted, moved or changed. The deals might be still out there but they are just not where they used to be. For instance, the neighborhood on Shi Men Yi Lu, used to be a favorite for my wife to find the best deals on export overruns and overstocks. She would always come back with 20 RMB outfits that looked great. That neighborhood is now under redevelopment. High-rise offices and more upscale restaurants dot the landscape and small boutique shops are on the way out. We will try to identify a few options here.

Boutique Shopping Streets and Areas

Shanghai is has several neighborhoods that cluster together small specialty stores. Taken together, they become a destination for locals and for expats, a place to see a different side of Shanghai. Some of the corners are listed here.

Xintiandi

One of the nice things about Xintiandi is the conglomeration of interesting shops, places to eat, and things to do - all in one place just a couple blocks off Huai Hai and Line 1, HuangPi Subway stop. A haven for designer and upscale shoppers, it should be on your list at least for a cool drink and walk through.

Stores of note here: Shanghai Tang merged modern chic and traditional design elements to come up with a hot look. Pay them a visit at Xintiandi. Simply Life is having an annual sale of all kind of interesting things to brighten up and stylize your home. Get up to date with the latest collections at Giordano Ladies and other fine fashion destinations. Also in the middle of the second block (the south block) there are gift kiosks with jewelry, handicraft, chess sets, and accessories. Some really unique things.

Shanghai Tang Gorgeous Tang Jacket Leads The Way For Shanghai Tang No.15, 181 Taicang Road, North Block, Xintiandi Plaza (021) 63841601 10:00am - 12:00am

Simply Life The Lifestyle Trendsetter For Modern China Unit 101&1201, 159 Ma Dang Road (021) 63875100

Giordano Ladies To Be Truly Beautiful Is To Have Great Style Second floor, South Block, Xintiandi (021) 63877833



For more information, please visit their website: http://www.xintiandi.com/english/events_new.asp.

• Changle Lu near Ruijin Lu and Mao Ming Lu

  There is a long stretch of Changle Lu from around Chengdu Lu cross street up past MaoMing Lu ( going north on Changle Lu ) that has some great boutique shops. In this stretch you can find all kinds of shops, and especially for women's clothing and shoe stores. However, mens clothing stores, sports equipment, toy stores, restaurants, bakeries, and book store or two have their places in the line up.  (Garden Books is on Changle Lu near Shanxi Lu). 

• Shaanxi lu near WeiHai Lu

  Shaanxi Lu between Nanjing Lu and WeiHaiLu is a great clothes, bags and shoes street. Get your accessories and manufacturer stock overruns at pretty good deals.

• Fuzhou Lu

  In the past, known as the "Culture" street. A good place for books, art supplies, custom paper supplies, picture framing, and more. For the longest time, The Foreign Language Bookstore here was the only place you could a decent selection of English language books. Other bookstores have challenged that in recent times, however. In this area within a block or two is a great area for hair and beauty products.

• Fuxing Lu

  All along FuXing Lu's tree lined streets are shops with clothes, toys, local places to eat, and on the Corner of XiangYang Lu and Fuxing is the big electronic gadget markets. A great day hike if you want to get out for a walk.

• YuYuan- ChengHuangMiao

  YuYuan has long been a destination for tourists and the shopping options around it have continued to develop. Great gift shops, posters, clothes, jewelry, pearls, jade furniture, antiques etc., all cluster around Yu Garden's tangent streets. Sure, you could say it's a tourist trap, but its definitely part of the scene and something you might want to show visitors when they come from out of town.

• Curios on Dong Tai

  Often written up in tourist rags, this street is a handicraft market with special features and deals mainly the classic handicrafts including ceramics, jade, bronze and wood articles, paintings, calligraphic works, writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and ink slabs and others. Some love it and some think its waste of time. A note about negotiating in our forum here. http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-62716.phtml

Markets

• Fake Market Prices http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-22177.phtml

  With the closure of the infamous XiangYang market ( and before that HuaTing market ), the fake deals went elsewhere. While you can still find a few "watch bag dvd" hawkers on HuaiHai, the real deal have spread out to a couple locations. QiPu market located near Tiantong Rd and Middle Henan Rd. QiPu lu is only a couple blocks long. You cannot miss the large buildings full of wholesalers when you go at the Line 2 Science and Technology Museum subway stop in PuDong. Some people are find good things and some apparent deals quickly fall apart ( in some cases literally) when you get them home. Buyers beware.

• Fabric Market http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-76434.phtml

  Near the River in Puxi - several floors of fabric and tailors. You still have to have an eye for quality and get some recommendations for a GOOD tailor that will at least give you some semblance of what you want to have made, but when done right... it's a great deal.

• Bird and Flower Markets.  Shanghai has locations that consolidate small shop front selling all kinds of plants, fish, dogs and cats,turtles.  You may want to ask around in your part of Shanghai to find out where.  Many have been uprooted and moved over the past few years.  Currently, I often visit the one on KaiXuan Lu near Anshen Lu. I bought some turtles there  and restock my turtle food occasionally. There is another one south on Kaixuan Lu a few blocks.

Malls

There are quite a few malls in is this shopping hungry city. A few of note.

• Malls on Nanjing Lu

  There are two major areas of Nanjing - West Nanjing Lu. Around Shanxi Lu there is Plaza 66 and its designer shops and Westgate Mall (where you may have to go if you are an American with passport issues). Then there is the Nanjing Lu Walking Street starting at People's Square and going down to Henan Lu. Near People's Square is Raffles city on XiZang Lu. On the walking street itself there are numerous departments stores and shops. A must-see at night when the lights are on.

• Super Brand Mall

  In PuDong, Super Brand Mall at the Lu Jia Zui subway stop on Line 2, right beside the riverwalk and the Pearl TV tower is several floors of all kinds of shopping. Toys (ToysRUs), Groceries (a big Lotus supermarket) , department stores as well as dozens of places to eat and be entertained. Restaurants on the west side (the River side) usually have some window seats with great views.

• Brilliance Mall.

  For the folks out in the west part of Shanghai, Brilliance Mall is a place to visit. Ed had some comments of his experience here.

  Enjoyable Shopping in Shanghai? - http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/community/index.php/2006/08/21/enjoyable_shopping_in_shanghai?blog=5

• Cloud 9 ZhongShan Park

  Opening just a couple years ago, it has developed into a considerable shopping destination. Right at the cross of Line 2 (ZhongShan Park Subway station) and Line 3 and 4 it offers everything a good mall should offer. Our regular forays there are for the Carrefour weekly grocery shopping. There are lots of good restaurants, ice cream, and coffee shops in this mall. I recently picked up some Rockports there and was surprised to find they had my size ( US size 11).

Major Shopping Districts.

Of course you can always the biggest, best, and densest collection of shopping options by going to one of the major shopping areas. Two other places that deserve some notice ( in addition to Nanjing Lu talked about above ) are;

• Xu Jia Hui

  With 5 big malls - department stores sitting on the corners of ZhaoJiaBang Lu, CaoXi Bei Lu, HongQiao Lu, and HuaShan Lu and coupled to a big Line 1 subway stop, XuJiaHui is a force in Shanghai's retail commerce. Pretty much every kind of restaurant and retail shop is with in block or two of this big corner. Notable are Metro City (the big glass globe) where the electronics mall starts and Grand Gateway Mall on the opposite corner. A best Buy is located near Metro City. A perfect shopping locale if you can deal with the crowds.

• HuaiHai lu

  HuaiHai Lu shopping stretches father than you probably want to walk. Starting on the east end of HuaiHai around XiZang Lu and the HuangPi Lu subway station stretching way out to HongQiao in the west, it's a another good area for upscale good, designer clothing and accessories, furniture, places to eat. On east HuaiHai, the area around the HuangPi subway station deserves some investigation. Recently the computer and electronics mall has moved from this corner down the street to XiZang Lu.

Other Areas of Note

Around Huai Hai and Shanxi Lu is the Shanxi Lu subway station and a big Parksons department store. It has an OK grocery store with lots of levels of clothes, home items, luggage and more. It was here I bought my last big piece of luggage. For investigating what there is on Huai Hai Lu ( and one block away on Changle Lu ) this might be a good starting place.

Out in west Shanghai, often foreigners in Shanghai end up shopping at the Gubei Carrefour. In addition to the Carrefour for grocery and home products, the building and surrounding neighborhood has several other interesting shops, restaurants, and bakeries. Just a few long blocks up Yanan Lu is another great street, Hong Mei Lu. Hong Mei Lu has a great walking street with all kind of restaurants, in addition to the restaurants and stores that dot the street starting at YanAn Lu going south on Hong Mei.

In PuDong, check out the area around Ba Bai Ban (DongChang Lu near Zhang Yang Lu. BaBaiBan has some decent sales upon occasion, and this whole area just got a major makeover. There are lots of shops and places to eat, of course.

You don't have to be in the market to buy a lot of stuff. Some of the places outlined here might serve as an interesting area to stroll or do a day hike. Also, keep in mind it is only the tip of the iceberg. There are lots places not mentioned that could be a fascinating experience in your process of getting to know Shanghai. All in all, investigating these places, or at least the ones close to you should give you interesting shopping options and a fun opportunity to explore the city.