GroceriesGroceries
Where to buy food
Not a directory of shops. Each entry answers one question: what does this solve that the others do not.
By cuisine and community
This layer decides whether you can cook what you actually eat — which is why it decides corridors more often than people expect.
city'super ↗
Official site checkedButter, named cheeses, a holiday turkey you can recognise. Hong Kong premium grocery — three Shanghai stores on the group page. Open their locator the week you move.
Ole' ↗
Official site checkedDenser than city’super, a step down. Cheese and wine you can buy on a weeknight without crossing the city. Confirm the shop you will actually use on crvole.com.cn.
Sam's Club ↗
Official site checkedA week of bulk for a household with a car, a trolley lift, and a villa gate that allows it. Shanghai count is the Sam’s app that week.
Costco China ↗
Official site checkedSame car-and-bulk logic as Sam’s. Shanghai store count is the locator that day — reports of “two stores” are not a frozen fact.
METRO ↗
Needs a visit to confirmCatering-size imports. A car household. Addresses on the official locator that day.
ALDI ↗
Official site checkedA German weekly basket at discounter prices. Not a city’super turkey. Live shops: official site / mini-programme.
Freshippo / Hema
Needs a visit to confirmSame-day fish and greens for a Chinese kitchen. Not sashimi-grade fish in Gubei, not gochujang on Hongquan Road, not ghee.
Japanese cabinets · Yaohan
Official site checkedJapanese rice, miso, sashimi-grade fish. Density is Gubei and Hongmei, not a city-average Hema. Yaohan’s food floor is a Pudong weekend run.
Korean grocers on Hongquan Road
Official site checkedGochujang, seaweed, pork for grilling, church bulk-buys. This is infrastructure on Hongquan / Longbai — not the kimchi shelf at Ole’. Shop names turn over; walk the street.
Russian / Eastern European cabinets
Official site checkedRye, smetana, beetroot, specific sausages. Ask the Telegram group that week.
Halal and South Asian groceries
Official site checkedDals, ghee, specific chilli powders, a certified kitchen. city’super will not hold this stably. Ask the kitchen certificate, not a lamb icon on a menu.
Lawson / FamilyMart bentos
Needs a visit to confirmA 10-minute dinner when the household is Japanese or Korean. Survival, not “imported groceries”.
Closed, or never here
Guides that never get updated keep sending people to shops that shut years ago. These are the ones to stop looking for.
Isetan Shanghai — closed
Closed — do not goDo not send anyone to West Nanjing Road for Isetan. The Shanghai store closed 30 June 2024.
Lease ended. Isetan on the mainland remains in Tianjin only.
Donki — not on the mainland
Not in ShanghaiThere is no Donki in mainland China. Japanese sundries are Gubei cabinets and Yaohan food floors.
Tell us what you cook
Korean grilling, halal, a real bread run, or nothing in particular. It changes which corridors work.
