First in Shanghai is a column about Shanghai's "debut economy," which emphasizes being first, fast and everywhere. The policy project has become a citywide phenomenon combining economic planning and cultural spectacle. This series will examine how local and international companies are using Shanghai to launch goods and create experiences. Its retail is ritual, and commerce is an event, and we're here to explain what it all means. Here are some of the latest "first stores" to launch in the city.

Shanghai is done with shops. What brands are opening now are more like arguments about who they are and what kind of person you might be if you shop there. An old villa on Wukang Road becomes a living room. A hotpot chain pivots to dessert soup. A tea lab takes over Fengshengli and breaks the city's brain for a Tuesday. The store is the message.

Lemaire

Lemaire just opened on Wukang Road, which, if you know Wukang Road already, tells you most of what you need to know. The location is a 1930s residential villa designed by Dong Dayou, one of the architects who basically built what Shanghai looks like, and Lemaire has done the sensible thing and left it mostly alone. Three floors, a private garden, original bones intact. Stepping inside feels less like shopping and more like someone let you into their house, which is entirely the point.

This is Lemaire's second mainland flagship and the third stop in their global House Project, after Hannam-dong in Seoul and Ebisu in Tokyo. The formula is consistent: find a building with history, preserve what matters, let the clothes live in it rather than be displayed by it.

Ground floor is reception area, living room, dance studio, study, kitchen, the whole domestic spread. Bags sit on tables. Accessories are just around the corner. Go up the wooden staircase and the women's section is framed as a ladies' living room. The top floor attic gets the bachelor apartment treatment, a small bed with bamboo matting, and soft light through semi-transparent windows. Quieter up there. More considered.

Opening hours:

• Monday-Thursday: 11am-8pm
• Friday-Saturday: 11am-9pm
• Sunday & Public Holidays: 11am-8pm

Address: No.2, Lane 40, Wukang Rd | 武康路40弄2号

Heytea Lab | 喜茶

Heytea's Lab 2.0 just opened at Fengshengli, and if you needed any reminder of what Shanghai does to a brand launch, consider that queues hit five hours on opening day and the mini-program buckled under the orders before noon. This is a city that treats a new tea shop like a cultural event, because here, it kind of is.

The concept is the most complete version of Heytea's experimental format yet, pulling all four divisions together under one roof for the first time anywhere in the country: tea lab, cake lab, gelato lab and bake lab. Drinks, cakes, Italian-style gelato, baked tarts, the full picture. It's also the first time Bake Lab has made it to Shanghai, which sounds like a minor footnote until you see the queues.

The menu pulls from Shanghai's own flavor culture, which every smart brand does when they open here, and which Shanghai expects and rewards.

Opening hours: 10am-10pm

Address: 259 Maoming Rd N.｜ 茂名北路 259 号

Hazzys

Korean brand Hazzys has opened its first China flagship at the corner of Huangpi Road South and Taicang Road in Xintiandi, which is exactly the kind of address you pick when you want the city to take you seriously from day one.

The brand was founded by LG Fashion in 2000 and draws its entire identity from British aristocratic leisure culture, specifically the rowing club at Cambridge University. That's a very specific reference point to build a fashion brand around, and Hazzys has committed to it fully, bringing in London-based Casper Mueller Kneer Architects to design the space. The result merges rowing club aesthetics with something more contemporary, athletic energy sitting alongside the gentlemanly refinement the brand has always leaned into.

The building itself does a lot of the talking. The facade is translucent glass cladding with slanted elements that read, in silhouette, like ripples from an oar moving through water. It's the kind of architectural concept that sounds like a stretch on paper and actually works in person. Inside, vintage furniture and richly colored carpets layer up the space, and a suspended rowing boat hangs over the double-height first floor, which is either too much or exactly right depending on your tolerance for committed theming.

The ground floor leads with two collections: the blue denim line, which is Hazzys' 26SS focus, featuring six silhouettes in low-saturation hues built for everyday wear, and a Xintiandi flagship limited series with deeper tones and more tailored cuts, available only here. Upstairs is a VIP lounge, more private, more considered, the kind of room that signals the brand knows who it's dressing and what those people expect when they walk in.

Opening hours: 10am-10pm

Address: 235 Huangpi Rd S. | 黄陂南路235号

Warrior 1927 | 回力1927

Warrior, which is about as Shanghai as a brand gets, has opened the first flagship for its youth sub-label Warrior 1927 on Huaihai Road M. Three floors, with accessories and shoes on the ground floor, sportswear including shell jackets on the second, and the third floor currently being used as storage, which is at least honest.

There's a Lelecha inside, and if you order an Americano, it comes in a cup printed with the Warrior 1927 logo, which is either a nice touch or a preview of how brand collaborations are going to work from here on out. Large-scale dragon installations run through each floor, connecting Eastern aesthetics with contemporary street culture in the way that every brand with heritage and an eye on younger consumers is trying to do right now. Warrior has more right to it than most.

Address: 346 Huaihai Rd M. | 淮海中路346号

Haidilao Dessert Shop | 海底捞糖水铺

China's first Haidilao Dessert Shop opened at The Place in Shanghai, because of course it did. The concept takes over what used to be the waiting area and milk-tea counter of an existing Haidilao branch, about 72 square meters, carved out into a space that functions independently of the hotpot restaurant next to it. You can now get a bowl of Haidilao desserts without committing to a full hotpot situation, which is either a relief or a gateway depending on where you're at.

The menu runs 13 freshly made dessert soups, including watermelon sorbet and matcha red bean sorbet, five handcrafted teas, including jasmine and ginseng oolong cold brew, and five cake options, including tiramisu. Prices run from 9.9 to 20 yuan, which in 2025 Shanghai feels like a different city entirely. Sit down with a bowl, grab a slice of cake, or take a bottle of tea out into the mall and keep moving. Haidilao has figured out that not every meal needs to be an event, which is a surprisingly humble insight from one of the loudest dining brands in the country.

Opening hours: 10am-7am (next day)

Venue: The Place | 虹桥南丰城

Address: 4/F, 100 Zunyi Rd | 遵义路100号4楼