On Huaihai Road in March, new leaves are sprouted, and better flowers come in spring.

On this street full of charm, the Shanghai women's goods store, which has passed the 68 year "Beautiful Road", has recently been upgraded. The street enclosure painting of the project is mainly bright rose red, and the flowers representing female symbols set off a row of large artistic fonts evolved from ArtDeco decorative art style - "LADY Huaihai" waiting for the curtain to open.

Shanghai Women's Articles Store is located in the historic Peiwen Apartment, which is the epitome of the modern style of the world-class commercial street. Peiwen Apartment has stood for a hundred years since it was built in 1930. Together with Yongye Building and Kangsui Apartment, Peiwen Apartment has witnessed the early prosperous years here. At that time, the consumer goods here were synchronized with those in Paris, and the specialty goods such as western food, pastries, suits and general merchandise were dazzling, attracting countless eyes.

Huaihai Road, the first professional shop for women in China, is located in the core area of Huangpu District, starting from Renmin Road in the east and ending at Kaixuan Road in the west. It is more than 7 kilometers long and is one of the most famous roads in Shanghai. It is famous both at home and abroad for its elegant style, rich culture and rich connotation. Huaihai Road is divided into East Road, Middle Road and West Road, which were built in different periods. The most prosperous Middle Road was built in 1900 and has a history of 124 years.

At the beginning of the 1930s, Huaihai Middle Road was famous for its Xiafei Road. At that time, the Xiafei Road, whose name was changed three times, experienced three decades of rapid development. From east to west, it was full of European customs. The Shanghainese, who embraced hundreds of rivers, called this road "Luosong Road", demonstrating its unique multicultural charm.

Xiafei Road in the late 1930s (provided by Huangpu District Archives)

Shanjia, an overseas Chinese, is here to display various fashionable and high-end clothing, shoes and hats, gold and silver jewelry, department stores, etc. in the golden area of this area with the latest business philosophy of keeping pace with Europe and the United States. Of course, it also includes various exotic delicacies, among which western food, western pastries, coffee, and bars are famous in Shanghai.

Three Changes of Name Witness the Prosperity of the Road

In 1900, Huaihai Road was also called "Baochang Road" at that time, and on both sides of the road was a desolate and uninhabited wasteland. At that time, people in Shanghai would not have thought that this 5km long road would occupy the title of "Oriental Champs Elysees" for nearly a hundred years in the future.

For decades, Huaihai Middle Road was also called Xiafei Road (1915), Taishan Road (1943), Linsen Road (1945), etc. Each change of name witnessed a historical change of the city. But among several former names, "Xiafei Road" is the most impressive.

Shortly after Baochang Road was renamed Xiafei Road (1920s), a large number of Russian overseas Chinese came to Shanghai. When they had a firm foothold in the area of Tilanqiao, they began to move to Xiafei Road and opened various fashionable and foreign shops here: clothing stores, bakeries, western restaurants, bars, cafes

Tekachenko Brothers Cafe on Xiafei Road is the earliest garden restaurant in Shanghai (provided by Huangpu District Archives)

Only in 1926-1928, Xiafeilu opened more than 100 overseas Russian stores. By the middle of the 1930s, there were many world famous stores opened by Britain, France, America, Russia and Joe on the Xiafeilu Commercial Street, many of which were the most in the same industry in Shanghai at that time. At that time, the beautiful shop windows of these shoe stores, photo studios and other stores were already a beautiful scenery on Huaihai Middle Road.

After the 1930s, more and more people lived in Xiafei Road, and the land price rose sharply. A group of talented architects built buildings with different styles on both sides of the road, including English, French, German, Italian, Renaissance, Baroque, Mediterranean, etc.

At the beginning of the road construction, many of the European style houses with more than two floors of masonry structure were rebuilt into new and old residential and apartment buildings in lanes. At this time, Xiafei Road, row upon row of small shops, large tracts of European style houses and villas and French plane trees complement each other.

Gene inheritance and business transformation

When it comes to western restaurants, the Red House Western Restaurant has left a very deep impression in the memory of the older generation of Shanghainese. When people talk about western food in Shanghai, they will think of the Red House Western Restaurant. "Eating western food to the Red House" has become a common saying among old Shanghainese. It is not only popular among Shanghainese, but also popular at home and abroad.

It was the first to open a western-style restaurant featuring French western-style food in Shanghai, and the first to create French fried clams and become a signature dish; Xu Qinde, the designer of the first Western food banquet, went abroad to participate in the international competition and won the prize. He was the first to shoot a series of TV films with far-reaching influence on "family western food" and introduced western food to ordinary families... Over the years, the striving Red House Western Food Restaurant has set ten "firsts" in the history of Shanghai's western food development.

1990s Red House Western Restaurant (provided by Huangpu District Archives)

Good business leads to good teaching. "Red House" boldly tries to transform the profound catering culture into community education courses, turn the shop into a classroom, integrate listening, doing and tasting, integrate knowledge, interest and operability, and become the first group of community education practice bases in Huangpu District. Store leaders and professional chefs give lectures in person, covering the development history of Red House, basic knowledge of western food, simple western food preparation and cocktail preparation. Up to now, 12 courses have been completed for community schools, and more than 1200 community residents have mastered the basic knowledge of western food.

Shanghai Huangshan Tea Co., Ltd., another time-honored Chinese enterprise on Huaihai Road, was founded in 1951. With "Xuyou" as the registered brand, it has formed a chain operation scale of more than 30 Xuyou tea shops. It is one of the tea monopoly enterprises with the richest tea distribution varieties in China, and sells more than 300 kinds of famous tea and special tea all over China.

Xuyou Tea House, with the business philosophy of "meeting friends with tea, conveying feelings with tea - making every consumer drink good tea", gathers all the geological famous teas in China, and presents hundreds of purple clay tea sets with unique shapes and different styles; There is a pollution free and pollution-free alpine "fixed brand" production base; Equipped with scientific and advanced fresh-keeping and storage facilities; Has a strong technical force in tea evaluation; Establish a vibrant Xuyou tea team.

Huangshan Tea Shop (provided by Huangpu District Archives)

A good story can better empower the brand value. Huangshan Tea Company has explored the cultural heritage of commodities, hung poems and paintings in the shop, displayed Yixing famous pots, opened a boutique house of tea sets and a guest reception room, which is exquisite and elegant. Consumers sit here for a while, have a look, drink, and buy some. It is praised by foreign shopping tourists as "a lovely tea shop, a lovely environment, and a lovely person".

To do a good job in business, we must "win" the speed of market changes. In recent years, Huangshan Tea Company has developed and cultivated a number of Xuyou specialty teas in combination with the requirements of the taste preferences of new and old tea drinkers and the changing market demand of Xuyou Tea House for a long time. Whether drinking at home, entertaining guests, or giving gifts to friends, it has become the best choice for many tea drinkers.

The old business district becomes a "trendsetter"

Shanghai has always been the most representative city in China where East and West cultures blend. Among the major business circles, the Huaihai Middle Road Business Circle is the best representative of this "integration" feature.

After the reform and opening up, Huaihai Road has been revitalized. In 1992, Huaihai Middle Road began to be comprehensively renovated, with subway tunneling, subway station construction, road overhaul, and commercial street reconstruction simultaneously. As a result, many tall buildings and shops have been renovated.

Jinjiang Hotels in the West Section of Middle Huaihai Road (provided by Huangpu District Archives)

Since its construction in 1900, Huaihai Middle Road has witnessed the rise and fall of business in Shanghai for more than a hundred years. East and west cultures and fashion trends collide and converge here, attracting popular foreign brands and local emerging brands to settle down one after another with a unique modern tone.

In recent years, with the transformation of citizens' consumption mode, it is also experiencing new changes, and the new Huaihai Road business circle is gradually taking shape. Centennial classic (the section from Shaanxi South Road to Ruijin Road), dynamic innovation (the section from Ruijin Road to Chongqing South Road), elegant and exquisite (the section from Chongqing South Road to Tibet South Road) and other theme business circles have successively joined the "circle of friends". Shanghai France Week, the opening parade of Shanghai Tourism Festival, the Rose Wedding Ceremony and other business and cultural activities are also constantly filling the traditional and modern cultural connotation of Huaihai Road.

From "Baochang Road", "Xiafei Road", "Taishan Road" to "Huaihai Middle Road", the name of the road has changed, and the fashion style has not changed. The store is small and dense, and the goods are exquisite and special, unlike the numerous department stores on Nanjing Road, the "tone" is the core of Huaihai Road, which also explains why Huaihai Road can not only precipitate a century old brand, but also constantly "refresh the blood".

Today, the Middle Huaihai Road Business District mainly refers to the bustling business district about 2.2km from the Tibet South Road in the east to the Shaanxi South Road, which gathers more than 10 shopping centers, including Shanghai Xintiandi, Shanghai Huanmao iapm, Shanghai TX Huaihai, and there are also many first stores, flagship stores, and online stores.

The passage of time can not take away the elegant and fashionable characteristics of Huaihai Road. At the age of 124, she is still fresh

(Source: Huangpu, Shanghai)

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