SHANGHAI keeps finding new ways to make shopping a reason to actually get out of the house. The latest wave of splashy flagship openings across the city leans hard into experiential retail, where buying stuff is almost second­ary to the vibe. From Pop Mart and Toys“R”Us to deli world and Black Tree Thai Tea & Coffee, brands are rolling out oversized, hyper-designed spaces covering everything from designer toys and stationery to fashion, collectibles and niche drinks.

These aren’t your standard shops — they’re part showroom, part playground, part brand world, built for wandering, touching and posting. Once again, Shanghai proves itself the go-to testing ground for brands looking to scale up, get weird and see how far storytelling and atmosphere can carry a retail experience.

Pop Mart

Pop Mart just leveled up the toy hustle on Nanjing Road E.: their brand-new Shanghai City Flagship swung its doors open late last month, and the pedestrian street instantly turned into a slow-moving, selfie-snapping conveyor belt of hypebeasts and curious aunties.

Right at the threshold, two towering display towers — Labubu grinning on one side, The Monsters mugging on the other — pulled the crowd in like a kawaii black hole. People queued three-deep to paw through blind boxes, debating the odds of scoring that one rare chase figure they’ll probably flip online before the weekend’s over.

The stats? Nearly 800 square meters of retail playground, stuffed with 100-plus IPs — Molly, Skullpanda, Labubu — and close to 10,000 bits of vinyl temptation. Biggest Pop Mart on the planet, apparently. Bring your wallet, your patience and maybe a stepladder if you want to see the stuff on the top shelves.

So... a huge snow-globe made of glass — that’s the new Pop Mart flagship. Four monster IP zones, one permanent DIY corner (finally, a place to mangle your own vinyl) and enough photo-ops to melt your phone battery before you hit the cash-wrap.

The ground floor features four themed zones: Labubu Forest Village offers a cozy “Nordic cabincore” vibe with pine scents and mischievous gremlin keychains; Dimoo Cloudscape creates a dreamy Studio Ghibli-like atmosphere with a cotton-candy sky and plush cottages; Skullpanda Cosmic Lounge presents a pastel-hued moodboard for self-discovery with softly drifting planets; and Molly x Tabby Studio bursts with vibrant pop-art colors as Molly and Tabby vie for shelf space.

Up the escalator, the vibe switch flips again — every two steps feels like a new pop-up, a mini fever dream stitched onto the last one. It’s a multi-story Instagram reel in real time.

The headline act is the forever-running DIY Lab, where Pop Mart finally admits the obvious: Half the fun is playing Franken­toy yourself. Grab a blank, pick your colors, then glue/lacquer/ swear until you’ve birthed a one-of-one monstrosity you can proudly post before the paint even dries. Keychains? Easy.

Collect it, hack it, flex it on socials, repeat. That’s the whole loop, neatly wrapped up on Floor Two.

Address: L1&L2, West Zone, Shanghai Shimao Festival City, 829 Nan­jing Rd E.

Labubu products in Pop Mart’s new flagship store — Zhu Yile

Deli world

For those not familiar with the deli world brand, it’s a Chinese stationary leviathan that got its start in Ningbo in 1981. They have been cranking out pens and staplers and growing into Asia’s biggest paper-pushing empire. Today, the company ships everything from student pencil cases to office printers to more than 130 countries and regions, with sub-brands covering tools, art supplies and all the cute IP collabs your desk can handle.

The brand just dropped a 1,500-square-meter stationery moth­ership smack in Jing’an Joy City, opening late last month and flooding the place with pen nerds and notebook hoarders.

We’re talking China’s biggest paper-and-plastic playground: tens of thousands of SKUs lined up like soldiers — student pens, premium fountain nibs, cutesy IP collabs, artsy desk toys, “cre­ative culture” trinkets, plus every stapler, washi tape and office doodad you never knew you needed till three seconds ago.

The top floor is the IP playground for Gen Z.

Address: L2, Jing’an J oy City, 166 Xizang Rd N.

Toys‘R’Us

Born in New Jersey, rehired in Hong Kong. After the 2017 US flame-out, the Asian arm kept the gi­raffe alive, ballooning to roughly 460 stores across the region and more than 230 on the Chinese main­land alone. It runs as a totally separate company, so bankruptcy ghosts don’t haunt the aisles here — just wall-to-wall Lego, Bandai and nostalgia trips for kidults.

Now, Toys“R”Us is back with a vengeance, this time rolling out its very first Trendy Fun Flagship Store right here in Shanghai. Forget the birthday party aisles of your youth — this one is pitched firmly at grown-up toy fans, with a mantra of “Flag­ship · Trend · Fun” and enough global pop culture IP to make your wallet nervous.

The concept? Step inside, and you’re on a care­fully engineered journey: enter, explore, play and — in theory — catch feels. Expect eye-candy dis­plays, a wall of exclusive collectibles and a layout that practically begs you to Instagram it all. The vibe is less “kid in a candy store,” more “adult with disposable income reliving childhood.” Welcome to the new temple for toy collectors.

Right out front, you’re greeted by a 2.2-meter-tall Optimus Prime, looking like he just walked off the set of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and straight into your Instagram feed. He’s made from fancy materials (artificial stone, if you’re into that), and he’s frozen in that classic, stoic Optimus pose — standing guard, eyes to the future, like a bouncer at the world’s geekiest nightclub.

Step inside and it’s zone after zone of toy-lover catnip: themed displays, rows of glass cabinets and a showstopper in the form of the first-ever Autobot combiner, the 2025 Age of the Primes Devastator — a name that somehow sounds even bigger in Mandarin. The place is a shrine to Optimus Prime in all his incarnations, spanning the original G1, Hollywood blockbusters and even the gaming mul­tiverse. Transformers nerds: bring tissues.

There are more than 100 pieces of merch to drool over, from toys to actual lifestyle goods, plus a Transformers × Hot Wheels exclusive box set you won’t find anywhere else. They’re also launching 10 brand-new products on day one, alongside a handful of popular gift sets. Basically, if you ever wanted to drop your paycheck on plastic robots, this is your moment.

This place has gone all-in on die-cast cars, with a wall-to-wall matrix that makes it a legit pilgrimage site for everyone from casual Hot Wheels kids to hardcore, white-gloves collectors. Brands run the gamut: Hot Wheels, Matchbox, MINI GT, Bburago, Maisto, Majorette, JADA and a whole lot more.

You’ll find everything from European and Ameri­can supercars to JDM classics, F1 racers, movie and animation IPs, original designs, plus a stash of Toys“R”Us exclusives. We’re talking 1,000+ SKUs in total so whether you’re chasing something specific or just browsing for that “didn’t know I needed this” moment, you’re covered.

Address: 6/F, North Bldg, Jing’an Joy City, 166 Xizang Rd N.

Black Tree Thai Tea & Coffee

Black Tree landed in Shanghai in October, open­ing its first-ever local outpost at Gate M West Bund Dream Center — and immediately turned into the area’s latest queue station. Regulars report that the full experience, from lining up to ordering to finally getting your drink in hand, can easily clock in at over an hour.

The brand hails from Southeast Asia and puts Thai tea front and center, giving the region’s fa­mously bold, creamy flavors a more modern spin. Using locally sourced Thai tea leaves and updated brewing techniques, Black Tree focuses on crafted Thai milk tea alongside more traditional tea-forward options.

If you’re only ordering one thing, make it the “400-Whisked Lava Thai Milk Tea.” It’s deeply aromatic, well-balanced and capped with a layer of coffee-infused milk foam that adds an unexpectedly nice textural twist. The “Thai Milk Tea Mini Ice Cream” is another solid pick — small, indulgent and very easy to justify after standing in that line.

Address: L1K-8, Gate M West Bund Dream Center, 2266 Longteng Ave

KYO’KYO×OUDÁV’KYO

The Shanghai debut store of KYO’KYŌ × OUDÁV’KYO has opened at TX Huaihai.

OUDÁV’KYO is a gender-neutral fashion label under the Japanese minimalist brand KYO’KYŌ, focusing on refined simplicity, well-tailored sil­houettes and distinctive fabrics — delivered at an accessible price point.

Founded in Tokyo, the brand follows the aesthetic principles of traditional Japanese culture: natural, disciplined and minimal. Most designs feature oversized cuts that are relaxed without looking sloppy. This “refined sense of ease” is one of the brand’s defining characteristics.

Address: L1, TX Huaihai, 523 Huaihai Rd M.