[First in Shanghai] What Arome Manpo, Bienaimé, and Ōrtensia Café Say About City's New Wave of Openings

First in Shanghai is our column documenting the rise of Shanghai's "debut economy," a model built on being first, fast and everywhere at once. What started as a policy initiative has morphed into a citywide phenomenon: part economic strategy, part cultural spectacle. In this series, we explore how brands – both local and global – are choosing Shanghai not just to launch products, but to create moments. It's retail as ritual, commerce as event, and we're here to unpack what it all means.

Shanghai keeps pushing the boundaries of what a "store" can be. From fragrance and beauty to fine dining, the city's latest openings – from Arome Manpo, Bienaimé, and Aíam to Ōrtensia Café – are less about quick transactions and more about immersion.

These new spaces blur the lines between retail, culture, and experience, turning shopping into something slow, sensory, and deeply atmospheric. Once again, Shanghai proves why it remains a key testing ground for brands eager to tell richer stories through space, design, and emotion.

Arome Manpo | 馥郁满铺

The first national flagship store of local skincare brand Arome Manpo opened on December 19 on Donghu Road, located in one of Shanghai's historic villa neighborhoods along streets famously known as "never-to-be-widened."

Anchored in the idea of "reinterpreting the city's architectural memory through a contemporary lens," the space weaves plane tree-lined streets and the textures of old Western-style houses into its design.

Housed in a standalone three-story building, the flagship brings together all of the brand's product lines under one roof for the first time, including skincare, fragrance, personal care and collaborative merchandise.

Beyond retail, the space integrates a floral tea and specialty drinks bar, serving classic options such as Americanos and lattes. The focus is on presenting a complete brand world and offering a deeper, more immersive experience.

The name Arome Manpo literally conveys the idea of rich fragrance filling an entire shop. From the very beginning, the brand chose tuberose as its core olfactory symbol, building its entire fragrance system around this single note.

In skincare, centering a product line on a plant ingredient that remains relatively underdeveloped and carries a high cognitive threshold is a long-term investment that demands patience. Tuberose fits this approach perfectly. It is not a common skincare ingredient, but a signature note in high-end perfumery, naturally associated with luxury and sensuality.

Address: 30 Donghu Rd | 东湖路30号

Bienaimé ｜ 贝奈玫

French fragrance brand Bienaimé has opened its first-ever pop-up store in China in Shanghai, launching at Jing'an Kerry Center under the name "The Cabinet of Scented Memories."

Inspired by the atmosphere of old Paris, the diamond-shaped space marks Bienaimé's first "cabinet of memories" on the Chinese mainland.

Here, the space feels less like a conventional shop and more like a carefully preserved cabinet, holding fragments of scent, time and emotion.

Upon entering, creations unfold along both sides – perfumes, scented candles, hand creams, and body care products – each resembling a personal item taken gently from the past.

Visitors can select a gift on site, which is then carefully wrapped and placed into the brand's signature pink bag, embossed softly with the recipient's initial. In that moment, fragrance becomes more than a product – it turns into a personal memory, carefully sealed and saved.

Bienaimé was founded in Paris in 1935 by legendary French perfumer Robert Bienaimé, as a fragrance and body care brand bearing his name.

During the height of the Art Deco era, Robert Bienaimé saw scent as a gentle ritual of everyday life rather than an unattainable luxury. The brand's restrained, modern bottle lines, soft yet expressive fragrances, and refined powder boxes made Bienaimé a natural part of the Parisian lifestyle at the time.

After Robert Bienaimé passed away in 1960, the brand gradually faded into silence. The cabinet holding those "gentle rituals of life" was quietly closed over time. It wasn't until 2019, when Cecilia Mergui discovered an old powder box at a flea market, that this long-sealed cabinet was reopened. In 2021, Bienaimé officially returned.

Address: B1, North Zone, Jing'an Kerry Center | 静安嘉里中心北区B1

Aíam

Japanese fragrance brand Aíam opened its first store in China on November 9 at Jing'an Kerry Center in Shanghai.

Designed around a mint-green palette accented with silver details, the space creates a calm, crisp, and minimalist aesthetic.

Aíam was founded in September 2020 by Ryosuke Fujii (藤井亮辅), president of Dotone – the company behind Japan's largest Direct to Consumer (D2C) fashion brand Eimy Istoire – together with brand director Manami.

The brand focuses on fragrances, body care, hair care, and home scent collections. It currently operates 12 stores across Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kanagawa, Fukuoka, and Hiroshima.

Address: B1, North Zone, Jing'an Kerry Center | 静安嘉里中心北区B1

Ōrtensia Café

Ōrtensia Café has opened its first Shanghai location at Zhang Yuan. Founded by Shanghai-born restaurateur Xu Zhengyuan 许正源 (born in 1996), the brand follows his remarkable journey from opening a French restaurant along the Seine in Paris – earning a Michelin star within a year – to bringing that Parisian legacy back to Shanghai with a new culinary chapter.

In 2020, the legendary three-Michelin-star restaurant L'Astrance, located at 4 Rue Beethoven in Paris, officially closed. Xu subsequently took over the space and, together with Japanese chef Saito (斋藤), co-founded Ōrtensia Paris, which earned one Michelin star within just one year. Xu thus became the first Chinese founder of a Michelin-starred restaurant in France.

The name Ōrtensia means hydrangea – a flower formed by countless small blooms clustered together – mirroring how Ōrtensia Paris was created by bringing together dreamers from around the world to build a new French dining story.

Hydrangea motifs are woven throughout the restaurant: a large floral installation inspired by the flower anchors the center of the dining area as a visual focal point, while door studs, decorative elements, and even tableware echo the same theme.

The space preserves much of the original shikumen architectural structure, blending it with modern French romantic design to reinterpret Shanghai-style culture in a fresh way – an artistic sensibility unique to Ōrtensia.

The dining area offers approximately 40 seats, accommodating groups of various sizes. Ōrtensia is rooted in modern French cuisine, with the chef developing new creations based on locally sourced Chinese ingredients. While maintaining classic French techniques, many dishes integrate elements from Chinese and Japanese culinary traditions.

Leveraging resources from the Paris restaurant, the Shanghai location has introduced a wide range of niche French wines. In addition to labels already familiar in China, Ōrtensia offers many exclusive selections, with a collection of nearly 400 bottles.

The restaurant occupies the second floor, while the first floor houses the brand's café and dessert space. Elegant and French vintage in style, the café features rich velvet textures and a refined atmosphere. It is open during the day and requires advance reservations.

Opening hours: Monday-Sunday, 11am-6:30pm

Address: 230 Maoming Rd N., W14, Zhang Yuan | 茂名北路230号张园w14