The twin villas at 796 Huaihai Road in Shanghai house luxury retailers like Dunhill. Qilai Shen for The New York Times
March 1, 2009
By ANDREW YANG
FOR most locals, Huaihai Road in Shanghai has always been one of the city’s go-to retail and shopping corridors. On this strip, department stores like Isetan and smaller shops like Levis and Miss Sixty and Calvin Klein blend into the streetscape.
Recently, a wave of upscale openings has raised the higher end of the often crowded boulevard, borrowing plenty of DNA from its retail origins.
The first sign of this may not be immediately obvious, but walk through the meandering entryway marked 796 Huaihai Road, through the landscaped gardens, and you’ll find two newly renovated French-style villas — the twin villas, as they are known. This gorgeous three-story complex, with verandas on each floor, now houses stores of two of the luxury retailer Richemont’s biggest brands, Dunhill (86-21-5454-8699; www.dunhill.com/en-cn/ourhomes/shanghai) and Vacheron Constantin (86-21-3395-0800; www.vacheron-constantin.com). At the star-studded opening in October, where a black-tie crowd mingled in the garden, Jude Law, the face of Dunhill, could be spotted in a V.I.P. section.
An upper floor of the villas is home to the newly arrived Shanghai edition of the members-only Kee Club (86-21-3395-0888). Kee has long been a high-society hangout in Hong Kong, but the smaller Shanghai branch is a bit more democratic: it’s open to the general public — at least until it has a chance to establish a regular clientele. For now, visitors can enjoy the bar, filled with leather Chesterfield sofas and Jacobsen Egg chairs, or book a table in the more formal wainscoted dining room, which serves a selection of fine French cuisine (dinner for two is about 1,000 yuan, or about $145 at 6.97 yuan to the dollar). Kee Hong Kong is known for its dim sum, and according to Maria Rhomberg, one of Kee Club’s founders, the kitchen of Kee Shanghai also serves Chinese cuisine and dim sum (a day’s notice is necessary for the latter).
Behind the villas is a new, more modern and low-lying building that is surrounded by reflecting pools. Inside, art lovers will find a new space for ShanghART (86-21-3395 0808; www.shanghart.com), perhaps the city’s most respected and best-known contemporary art gallery. It is the gallery’s fourth location in Shanghai, and its fifth over all, after a recent expansion to Beijing.
Looking for something for the kids? When it opens next Saturday, children and grown-up toy enthusiasts alike will be delighted to find an elaborate Barbie store farther down the street (550 Huaihai Road; www.barbieshanghai.com). The store will be the first set up by Mattel, the brand’s parent, to sell exclusively Barbie products. Aiming to be more than just a simple toy boutique, however, the store will have a cafe developed by the chef David Laris, who also runs a restaurant in the Bund, Shanghai’s other big retail and dining district. The eight-story building will be fronted with a fritted-glass facade designed by James Slade, a New York-based architect. The kids probably won’t care about the architecture — only what’s inside it.
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