Shanghai’s TX Huaihai, ‘epicentre of youth culture’, puts new spin on the shopping mall

Former department store reopens as a showcase for hip fashion e-commerce businesses, with nightclubs, restaurants, and exhibition spaces

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Chinese retailer Eng’s concept store in TX Huaihai also hosts exhibitions and get-togethers. The former department store in Shanghai is a showcase for young Chinese fashion brands and hip overseas chain stores. Photo: TX Huaihai

Published: 9:45am, 6 Oct 2024Updated: 4:35pm, 6 Oct 2024

In the heart of Shanghai is a decades-old retail space that bills itself as an “epicentre of youth culture”. At a time when e-commerce is all the rage, it promises to revitalise in-store shopping. It houses local fashion brands previously sold only online.

The 27,000-square-metre (290,000 sq ft) TX Huaihai Youth Energy Center, is on Middle Huaihai Road, one of two major shopping streets in central Shanghai and the address of the high-end IAPM mall and K11 Art Mall.

Until 2008, the six-storey building housed a branch of Japanese department store chain Isetan, which closed many of its overseas stores as shopping habits evolved.

TX Huaihai has nightclubs, restaurants, exhibition spaces and a curated selection of new-wave fashion stores.

TX Huaihai’s six-floor abode formerly housed Isetan, a Japanese department store. Photo: TX Huaihai

“China’s clothing industry has experienced a shift from ‘made in China’ to ‘designed in China’ over recent years, and on this foundation we wanted to showcase products from young designers in-store for customers to see, touch and feel them,” says King Yip, TX Huaihai’s brand director.