For Ling Sun of New Buyer, Yuyuan Lu is a street full of childhood memories. So, when an opportunity to open a showroom as part of the Changning District government’s plan to revitalize and rebrand the street as a new cultural hub presented itself a few months ago, she was excited.
The Shanghai native cofounded this multi-brand store and a “platform for up-and-coming designers from China and abroad to showcase their work” a few years ago, and it first opened in the Kerry Centre in Pudong and Hongqiao’s Takashimaya department store. Unlike the other two New Buyer outlets, the Yuyuan Lu showroom is focused more on accessories (handbags, sunglasses and jewelry pieces).
However, the aim to deliver fashion, lifestyle and well-designed pieces to the masses at an affordable price continues to be the ethos.
One of the main differences between New Buyer and similar concepts is that the theme of the showroom changes every two or three months (along with the designers featured) to reflect the season – a process that’s easily achievable thanks to all the movable display shelves and tables.
Sun has noticed a rise in the quality of work by young Chinese designers, and she has been stocking more of their products in recent months. For instance, she recommends Green Cocoon’s handmade jewelry pieces (starting from RMB360), which are made using a painstakingly complicated process that’s been passed down from the imperial family.
Some of the most popular items in the store are white leather bags from Qulu, each of which is hand-painted with the designer's signature swirls.
Besides these permanent locations, New Buyer also appears as themed pop-up stores across the city in various shopping centers from time to time. Sun says there are also plans to bring these pop-ups to other cities in the near future to reach a broader audience across China.
See a listing for New Buyer.
For more new Shanghai shops, click here.
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