Fan Bingbing spent four hours in this Shanghai boutique, the city’s most buzzed about right now
- Le Monde de SHC sells Chinese and international brands including Holiday Boileau, Yang Li, Koché, Charlotte Chesnais and Huishan Zhang
- Located in Shanghai’s French Concession, the three-storey hidden gem also has a French-inspired cafe, book corner and small beauty area
Amid the retail apocalypse that has befallen the world’s high streets and department stores in recent years – Forever 21 and Barneys in the US are the latest casualties – opening a bricks-and-mortar shop in a trendy neighbourhood is not the savvy investment it used to be.
Eric Young, the founder of Le Monde de SHC, a three-story boutique that opened in Shanghai eight months ago, is the first to admit that his decision to open a physical boutique could be seen as “crazy” these days.
“Everyone opens businesses on Taobao or Tmall but I’m not really desperate to build a huge business,” he explains when we meet him at the boutique. “I wanted to create something I liked. I actually think that there’s an opportunity in the local market for a fashion and lifestyle destination like in New York or London.” (Taobao and Tmall are both owned by Alibaba, which also owns the Post.)
