04. June 2023
This ca. 1925 passbook for the provision store Dombey & Son from our collection, is the equivalent to the “order history” tab of modern ecommerce or grocery delivery apps. A unique glimpse at how advanced retail was in Shanghai already back then. Dombey & Son was a high-class grocery store established in 1899 and the location on 143 Bubbling Well Rd (today’s Nanjing West Rd) existed since at least 1909. As Shanghai grew into an international metropolis the address was renumbered...
18. October 2021
Crane Stores, Shoers & Hatters (鶴鳴鞋帽商店) was founded by the father of Jefferson Young, who soon after the opening of the first Shanghai store in 1936 took over the family business. The firm swiftly expanded to several locations in Shanghai and subsequently in Nanjing and Hong Kong. By 1950 it had 13 stores nationwide. Jefferson Young moved to Hong Kong in 1951 where he continued to manage the local Crane subsidiary. In 1952, Crane expanded to Singapore, soon after to Penang and...
04. October 2021
When British Lever Brothers launched Lifebuoy soap in 1894, it was with a mission to ‘make cleanliness commonplace’. This was important because in Victorian England infectious diseases were the number one cause of death. Lifebuoy came to the rescue with an effective antibacterial soap which was affordable and widely available. The company first entered China in 1911 when the newly created 'Lever Brothers China' - or LBC (利华肥皂有限公司) took over from treaty port agents the...
21. May 2021
The Yuanli Pawnshop is a three-story, masonry-timber building constructed in 1932. It is surrounded by 15 meter high and 50 centimeter thick walls with a steel vault in the center of the structure. It's owner Lu Tuanxiao had previously operated several pawnshop in Wuxi, Jiangsu province before expanding to the Shanghai International Settlement. By the 1940s Yuanli had become the largest pawnshop in Shanghai. Today it is a museum and can be visited free of charge on 203 Wuding Lu or in VR on...
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