2025 Anfu Road, Shanghai: The internet-famous stores are gone. Who's coming?

Text | He Zhexin

Editor | Qiao Qian

Anfu Road is becoming more international.

On May 20th, the adidas Originals global flagship store officially opened at No. 322 Anfu Road. This is adidas' first global Originals flagship store in Shanghai. The pet series launched to coincide with the opening of the new store attracted a large number of people, causing traffic congestion at one point.

Since around last year, this German sports giant has been building a pyramid-shaped channel network in China, consisting of brand centers and flagship stores in the core business districts of first- and second-tier cities, as well as diversified stores in cooperation with distributors. Undoubtedly, the Anfu Road store belongs to the top of this channel network.

Compared with other stores, the Anfu Road store updates its products more frequently. While other stores restock monthly or even quarterly, "new products are launched every week." In addition, limited-edition and co-branded products can also be found here first. Lu Zhenhan, the vice president of marketing for the sports fashion brand in Greater China at adidas, told us that choosing Anfu Road means choosing the younger generation. "Opening a store here is as significant as opening one on Huaihai Road or Nanjing East Road."

"We hope to be a good neighbor," Wu Liang, the corporate public relations representative for adidas in Greater China, told 36Kr. This is also the common approach of almost all brands entering Anfu Road. To this end, adidas has also put a lot of effort into renovating the store. To better match the style of the old site, the shoe display area on the second floor of the store is designed in the style of a screening room, and the floor on the first floor is specially made in the style of the old Shanghai terrazzo.

The adidas Originals store on Anfu Road

Choosing Anfu Road is part of adidas' localization strategy. Especially when Bjørn Gulden, the CEO of this German company, reiterated at the latest earnings conference that he is "a very, very, very, very strong advocate of localization." Who best represents the local consumer culture in Shanghai? Today, the answer may only be Anfu Road.

People familiar with the matter revealed to us that after Beasts Lair withdrew in 2023, adidas signed a lease for this location. "The preparation period lasted for more than a year." The second floor, which was previously used to showcase Beasts Lair's beauty lifestyle concept brand LITTLE B, is now the area where adidas displays shoes and the outdoor series Equipment. The remaining two storefronts on the first floor are occupied by coffee shops of two trendy brands. The San Dun Ban - Yuanli Flying store also left last year. The newly opened Shanfeng Zhuanyin, a mid-range creative Chinese cuisine brand, opened in November last year and happened to be closed during our visit.

adidas is not the first, nor even the only international fashion brand to choose Anfu Road.

Brandy Melville, the pioneer of "sexy girl outfits" on this street, has few stores in China. But as of this year, Brandy Melville has been operating on Anfu Road for six years. We can't find its revenue data through public channels, but analysts estimate that the brand's annual growth rate reaches 20% - 25%. Last year, its fellow Italian brand Subdued also followed suit and opened its first store on nearby Wukang Road. Both brands seem reluctant to be too far from the "center of the universe" and are not in a hurry to expand.

In September last year, Zara, a larger and more well - known fast - fashion brand, opened a pop - up store at No. 298 Anfu Road to display limited - edition products and the latest creative designs. "AIM Kaimu", the company responsible for designing the store, is a regular on this street. Klee Klee, HARMAY, Duozhuayu, and San Dun Ban - Yuanli Flying are all their works. From AIM Kaimu's project page, they are good at creating different styles with minimalism.

There are also new entrants eager to join. In the less crowded middle section of Anfu Road, Salomon, a sports brand under the Amer Sports group, quietly rented a window as a brand display area. This move immediately sparked discussions on social media, and many netizens speculated whether it indicated that the brand was about to open a pop - up store here. In the past quarter, Salomon was the brand under Amer Sports that opened the most new stores, with a net increase of 22 stores.

Salomon's advertising space in the middle section of Anfu Road

Why, in 2025, after the disappearance of internet - famous stores, are so many big brands flocking to Anfu Road? The answer is simple - only they have the revenue - generating ability to match the high rent.

"During the trial operation period from April 28th to May 20th, the daily turnover of the store was between 50,000 and 60,000 yuan," the manager of the adidas Originals Anfu Road store told us. "This was still under the condition of limiting the number of customers." According to local media reports, from 2020 to 2022, the annual tax revenue of merchants along the Wukang Road - Anfu Road area remained between 67 million and 79 million yuan, and some well - known clothing brands have been paying taxes of over 10 million yuan annually.

ZUGZUG, a local lifestyle brand group, has grown from a company with less than 7 employees in 2002 to a multi - brand conglomerate with 7 sub - brands today. ZUGZUG's offline stores are characterized by a "non - chain feeling." Different store styles are paired with different sub - brands and derivative business forms, always providing consumers with a fresh experience. It is understood that the sales volume of ZUGZUG brand stores exceeds 7 million yuan.

In this new round of brand replacement on Anfu Road, ZUGZUG is also undergoing a series of "internal updates": after the closing of the in the Park concept store, klee klee & friends, which belongs to the ZUGZUG group, took over. Compared with the former's more art - and - fashion - oriented positioning, klee klee & friends is more lifestyle - oriented. In addition to brand clothing and household items, it also sells plants, seeds, gardening supplies, and handicrafts, and has a tea shop. The original klee klee store along the street is still in business - and they all remain on Anfu Road.

The food and beverage industry with higher - frequency consumption shows the most amazing stability here, especially in the prime location at the junction of Middle Urumqi Road and the high - end residential areas of Jinyuan and Huixianju. We observed that even during the afternoon tea time on weekdays, the Western casual restaurants here are still full. As the largest food and beverage operator in this area, the Wagas group has four sub - brands with long - term and dense store layouts here, precisely targeting two major customer groups: local residents who pursue convenient and high - quality food and the increasing number of foreign tourists due to visa facilitation. According to insiders, the annual revenue of just one of its Baker&Spice stores can exceed 10 million yuan.

The choice of business forms and store layout are still just appearances. The deeper reason may be that in the game of "who has the right to define the rules of space use," the merchants here are more willing to make concessions. A property manager of a nearby street once told us that the high window settings of the HARMAY store once worried the residents in the back row. After the street intervened and communicated, the merchant made corresponding adjustments. These perhaps insignificant compromises create a delicate sense of balance on Anfu Road, and this balance is the biggest reason for the resilience of the local business ecosystem.

"The historical area is not a museum, nor an empty city. It's very lively during the day, but residents can still enjoy a quiet environment at night," a local resident told us during a street interview.

In the book Commonality: The Production of Behavior, the author describes the ideal neighborhood as "the coexistence of many intimate spaces, thus becoming a vibrant public space." Although most of the examples in the book are government - led public spaces such as pocket parks, urban gardens, and open - air corridors, it also mentions many cases of commercial intervention. Currently, Anfu Road seems to represent a possibility of the coexistence of intimate and public spaces, but we can't judge whether this balance can be maintained. We can only keep visiting, observing, and recording it.