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International Artists' Factory
Despite the grandiose name, this place, which is located in the hip and happening Taikang Rd Art Centre in Lane 210, is really a design and art centre with a handful of fashion boutiques. Shops worth a lazy meander include Jooi Design (Room 201) for cool bags, cushions and Japanese-style asymmetrical shirts (from around Y800 ) and L'Atelier Mandarine (Room 318) for kiddies clothes.
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Jim Dandies
This cool boutique owned by the artist Yurika Nakae is bizarrely hidden away in a downmarket mini-mall that sees few foreign faces. The funky knitwear, tops, jeans and belts make for a big contrast with the tat on sale in the shops around it. Prices start at around Y300 but go far higher for some items. The shop is inside the Liangzhuang shopping market, which is just south of Shanghai Stadium metro and opposite IKEA.
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Jingdezhen Porcelain Artware
This is one of the best places for traditional Chinese porcelain. Blue and white vases, plates, teapots and cups are some of the many choices available. Credit cards are accepted, and shipping overseas can be arranged.
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La Vie
Local designer Jenny Ji has made a name for herself with her stylish take on street fashion, including patterned jeans and nicely cut shirts. This shop is the flagship for her own brand, La Vie. But none of it comes cheap. The jeans start at around Y6900 and even the T-shirts go for around Y3200 .
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Madame Mao's Dowry
Everyone needs some Revolution-era collector's items somewhere in the house. What better way to brighten up the foyer than with a bust of the Chairman? Or why not make a statement in the kitchen with a poster of happy socialist workers? If all that brings you just a little too close to Mao's reign of terror, there's also some apolitical memorabilia, like dumpling moulds, antique ceramics and vintage clothing.
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Metro City
Half of this mall is about technology, selling electronics, computers and software; the other half is all about fun, with a Sega arcade and a Megabite in the basement and Kodak Cinema World on the 5th floor. Next door is the Pacific Digital Plaza (1117 Zhaojiabang Rd), another electronics emporium that spreads across two buildings.
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Nextage
This giant department store has 150 retail outlets selling from 100,000 sq metres of floor space. The 10-storey monster is owned by the Shanghai No 1 Department Store, and there's a cinema and Internet café on the top floor. The food court has branches of Bì Fēng Táng, Pizza Hut and Tairyo.
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Old Street
This renovated Qing dynasty stretch of Fangbang Rd is lined with specialist tourist shops. It's an excellent place for souvenirs, particularly because the vendors here are less pushy than at Yuyuan Bazaar, although there's a surfeit of Mao memorabilia.
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Old Town Gods Temple Antique Market
The basement of the Huabao Building, slap bang in the centre of the bazaar, houses a collection of established antique shops. These are the kind of antique stalls that accept all major credit cards and there's a real mish-mash of stuff here, from old mah-jong sets and watches to porcelain and pottery, as well as the opium pipes found in every Chinese antique market. The sales staff are a bit pushy here and you need to haggle.
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Peace Qipao
This tiny store offers cheaper tailor-made qípáos than most of its nearby competitors. It does silk shirts, dresses and jackets as well. Most of the patterns incorporate large embroidered flowers in their design. Custom-fit clothing only takes two to three days to make, and the qípáos start at around Y880 .
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Plaza 66
The poshest mall in Shanghai, this place is not just home to long-established superstar labels like Dior, DKNY, Lagerfeld and Prada, but also Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Anna Sui. Fashionistas will think they have died and gone to heaven. Everyone else may well expire at the sight of the prices. The 5th floor restaurants are top-notch too.
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Propaganda Poster Art Centre
If socialist art is your thing, check out this gallery which houses a huge collection of propaganda posters. Increasingly prized by collectors, some of them are very rare now and prices are correspondingly high. The cheapest start at around Y1000 . But there are also lots of cartoons and memorabilia, which are more affordable. Mr Yang, who runs the place, speaks good English and will show you around.
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Qipu Market
Qipu Market is where ordinary Shanghai goes shopping for clothes. Consisting of two rundown, rabbit warren-like department stores surrounding the North Henan Rd intersection, it's one big 'everything must go now' sale here. This ain't Plaza 66, so do as the locals do. It's exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure and very Shanghai. Haggle here; you should be paying at least 50% below the asking price.
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Raffles City
A seven-floor, nonsmoking, Singapore-owned mall that specialises in medium-level Western brands like Levi's, Miss Sixty and Quiksilver. There are also electronics and toy shops here, as well as a food court with noodle and pizza places, and a Watson's in the basement.
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Shanghai Antique & Curio Store
A long-established government-run store that takes up an entire block and offers some interesting curios. You'll find porcelain, jade, jewellery, cloisonné and embroidered silk. Designated tourist shops like this are expensive alternatives to the markets. Their range is good, but you need a shrewd eye.
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Shanghai Museum Art Store
Attached to the Shanghai Museum, this high-priced but high-quality store offers some variety from the usual tourist souvenirs. Apart from the excellent range of books on Chinese art, architecture, ceramics and calligraphy, there is a good selection of quality cards, prints and slides. The store has its own currency exchange.
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Shanghai No 1 Department Store
Worth a visit from an anthropological viewpoint, if nothing else. This is the quintessential Chinese department store, averaging 150,000 shoppers a day over 11 levels of merchandise.
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Shanghai No 1 Food Store
Brave the crowds here to check out the amazing variety of dried mushrooms, ginseng and sea cucumber as well as more tempting snacks like sunflower seeds, nuts, dried fruit and a good range of chocolate. There's a very small selection of Western food on the 2nd floor. Built in 1926, this used to be the Sun Sun, one of Shanghai's big department stores.
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Shanghai Tang
Hong Kong-based Shanghai Tang flies the flag for the Middle Kingdom in the world of high-end fashion. The designs are classic Chinese with a twist, incorporating fluorescent colours, traditional motifs and luxury fabrics like silk and cashmere into the clothes and accessories. More affordable items include the slinky tops (from around Y1500 ) and the scarves (around Y3000 ), but if you have to ask the price of an item here you can't afford it.
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Shirt Flag
Purveyors of the finest T-shirts on the mainland, Shirt Flag specialise in witty designs, such as their Angry Panda series, and giving an ironic twist to Maoist propaganda and later party slogans such as the 'Four Modernisations'. Prices start at around Y99 and unlike many Chinese T-shirts, these ones are made of good-quality cotton and won't shrink two sizes the first time you wash them.
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Silk King
The city's largest fabric chain sells attractive silks from around Y140 per metre, although prices go far higher depending on what you want. Most branches have in-store tailors who can make you a custom-fit qípáo (or a shirt or jacket) in three to 10 days for around Y1000 . Twenty-four hour rush jobs are also possible.
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Skylight
Sneak into this lovely little incense- perfumed nook opposite the Iranian Consulate for its small haul of hand-crafted Tibetan jewellery, antiques and furniture. There are also a few exquisite thangka - sacred Buddhist paintings on silk - and colour photographs taken by the owner during his voyages across the Tibetan plateau.
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Spin
Chinese porcelain hasn't developed artistically since at least the Qing dynasty. Fortunately, a new generation of designers has started picking up the slack, trying to restore artistic integrity to Jǐngdézhèn ceramics. Spin does an excellent job of vaulting China into the 21st century with their oblong tea cups and twisted sake sets. The prices are surprisingly reasonable.
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Superbrand Mall
It's not as upmarket as the Puxi-side malls, but the many locals who flock here don't seem to be crying over the lack of top-end Western labels. It's always busy and the 5th-floor food court makes a good place for a cheap lunch if you're in the area. For more sophisticated dining try the 10th-floor restaurant South Beauty, which has Bund views. There's a supermarket in the basement and a cinema on the 8th floor.
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Suzhou Cobblers
This cute boutique, right off the Bund, sells exquisite, hand-embroidered silk slippers. Patterns and colours are based on the fashions of the '30s, and as far as the owner, Huang Mengqi, is concerned, the products are one of a kind. Her shop also sells handmade bags, hats and toys.
