There were a lot of antiques shops on Huaxing rd, Hu QingPing rd and on Wuzhong road just after the outer ring but maybe 80% are gone. Many of them have left because of the extension of Hongqiao airport, others probably for various reasons.
They probably have moved to a new location !?
Anybody knows where ?

maybe they were not real antiques, technically one can't take a real antique out of China anyway, something more than about 100 years old anyway. yes, that was a negative post, but i just thought I'd throw it out there.

Who knows if they are real or not but with time, we found already a few nice pieces which at least look authentic at very reasonnable prices. I am pretty sure they will look good in our home in Europe and even they are maybe/probably fake, we are really happy to have them.
Also, we have a lot of fun visiting those places here, in Europe anything close to an antique is often not really affordable !
As matter of problems when taking them back, I will tell you the day my container leave ! I have no ideas but in China, there are often some ways...

Any ideas where my shops have been moving ?

there are several big antique shops Jing An district. if you want to go there, you can took the subway line2 and get off at the "JING AN temple" stop and then get out of the subway staition from NO.1 exit,then turn right, after about 1minute's walk you'll see a very big antique shop, and there are actually several such shops around there. if you'll go there buy cab, just tell the driver you want to go to "JING AN temple" or in chinese" JING AN SI".
I hope the above information can do you some help, cause i'm a chinese, i'm afraid my english isn't good enough to make myself fully understood. but i'm always glad if i can offer you foreign friends any help.

Thanks Lily, I know where it is.

I am mostly looking on shops in the suburbs as there are often bigger, cheaper and I am also mostly interested to buy stuff before they are being repaired and refinished but next time I am near Jing An, I will definitely have a look there.

any recommendations on some worthwhile shops to visit? have been to hu & hu and would like to consider others before i commit

A little street called Shanghai Guan Rd which runs parallel to Beijing and Xin Zha Rds has few little stores with old "nick knacks" and a little bit of cheap old furniture.

Adrienne
http://www.shanghaiprops.com

I would recommend Chine Antiques as the best antique dealer in the city. I have bought an entire house worth of stuff(all authentic antiques). I am moving to a smaller place here, so Chine also arranged door to door delivery of my furniture back to the US.

They have a small shop in the Liuhaisi art gallery at the corner of Hongqiao Road and Shuicheng Road, just north of Carrefour. They also have an enormous two floor warehouse in the north side of the city.

I would recommend going to the shop first and if you like what you see, get directions to the warehouse.

wow, that must be good. went to henry's studio and antiques and bought 4 pieces. will go check out chine antiques