[First in Shanghai] Have a Pet? Shanghai's Pet Market is Huge

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.

In China's cities, the pulse of life has become faster. The old frameworks of family have thinned: marriages come later, children later still, and more people now move through their days alone. In that quiet space between solitude and connection, animals have stepped in. A cat on the windowsill, a dog waiting at the door – they've become something closer to kin, their presence filling rooms that might otherwise stay silent.

The affection has its own economy. What began as a niche of food and collars has swelled into a national appetite. In 2015, the pet market was 97.8 billion yuan (US$13.7 billion). By 2023, it had reached 592.8 billion – a 25 percent annual rise that feels less like commerce than confession. Analysts see no sign of slowing: KPMG China forecasts 811 billion yuan by 2025, and iiMedia Research, more bullish still, imagines the industry passing 1.15 trillion by 2028. Behind every number is the same quiet truth – affection has become an economy of its own.

A Thriving Market with Diverse Players

The market has begun to hum – a low, persistent energy drawing in everyone from legacy brands to restless newcomers. What was once a quiet corner of consumption has turned into one of China's liveliest frontiers. Food, grooming, tech, fashion – each finds its way into the pet world, a space now crowded with invention and ambition.

Snack giant Three Squirrels has reimagined its pantry for animals, releasing a new label, Gold Stay-at-home Dad (金牌奶爸). Holiland, better known for its cakes, now bakes for pets under Holiland Pet. Appliance makers – Haier, Dyson, Panasonic – have followed, threading their smart home technologies into products meant for fur and paw: self-warming beds, vacuums tuned to shed, water dispensers that think. Even the sportswear companies – Reebok, Adidas, Semir – have entered the fray, dressing dogs in miniature echoes of their owners.

What emerges is less a market than a mood – one where affection, design and technology blur, each chasing the comfort of companionship in a changing world.

Pet Brands Make Their First Move in Shanghai

Shanghai is always going to be the first. Cosmopolitan, confident and flush with the kind of spending power that turns lifestyle into statement, the city has become the natural stage for China's new pet economy. Its owners – young, urbane, precise in taste – look for more than utility. They want refinement, experience and a certain intimacy in how they care.

So the brands have come, and Shanghai has opened its doors.

The latest arrival is Marsmart Pets, a well-known chain from Beijing, now staking its claim on Anfu Road (of course) with its first flagship street store. The space – 450 square meters of careful abundance – gathers more than 200 domestic and international brands, offering over 3,000 products that trace every contour of a pet's day: the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the bed they claim, the way they travel.

It's not just retail; it's a small portrait of how affection is curated in the modern city – measured in square meters, brand logos, and quiet indulgence.

The new Marsmart space unfolds across two levels, dressed in the brand's familiar language of the future – clean lines, metallic edges, a pulse of light. Orange dominates, the color of energy and warmth, broken by veins of gray steel and bright yellow strips that trace the ceiling like a distant orbit. The light is soft, almost domestic, tempering the sense of exploration with something human, something close.

Founded in 2021 by a small group of creative entrepreneurs – all born in the 1990s, all confessed animal people – Marsmart Pets imagines a world it calls the Mars universe: not just a store, but a kind of ecosystem built around affection and design, service and emotion, each orbiting the same idea of care.

The first Marsmart opened in Baiziwan, Beijing, in 2022. Since then, the brand has expanded to ten directly operated locations – from Beijing to Shenzhen, Shanghai, and even Hohhot in the northern Innner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

If you go...

Opening Hours:10am-10pm

Address: 2/F, Bldg 2, Lane 298 Anfu Rd

安福路298弄2号楼2层

BornTooth is part of this new wave. The Shenzhen-born brand, known for its fresh pet food, opened its fourth store in August – its first in Shanghai, at Suhewan Mixc World. The move felt inevitable: a young company following its customers north into a city that sets the tone for how China now lives with animals.

A New Generation Redefines Pet Living

According to the 2025 China Pet Industry White Paper, the number of urban cat and dog owners reached 76.89 million in 2024 – up 2.4 percent from the year before. The same report puts the value of China's urban pet market for cats and dogs at 300.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent.

Beneath the numbers, the story is generational. The main force in pet ownership now comes from those born after the 1990s and 2000s – young people for whom pets are not just companions but family. The phrase "fur baby" is no longer a joke, but a kind of truth. Emotional attachment drives spending; care becomes a form of expression.

Businesses entering this space understand the expectation. They sell not just food or toys, but a lifestyle that mirrors how people see themselves. When Gogogym opened its first national store in Shanghai, it drew attention even before its doors opened – a gym designed entirely for pets, but built with the owner in mind.

Inside, the design is simple, almost serene: pale wood tones, soft lines, and four clearly defined zones – retail, spa, fitness, and therapy. Transparent glass pods allow owners to watch their dogs exercise, easing anxiety for both sides. The setup feels calm, methodical, a touch scientific. In the spa area, dogs are bathed, massaged, and dried under warm light. It's a kind of wellness space, the human version translated into fur and motion.

Another name pushing the boundaries is Pet&Fresh, a new retail concept that blends fresh food with pet nutrition. It's the latest venture from Hou Yi (侯毅), the creator of Hema, and it carries the same instinct for reshaping how people shop – only this time, for their animals.

The first store opened on February 22, 2024, inside C Park Haishu Cultural Square in Shanghai's Changning District. From there, the growth has been quick and deliberate. Within months, Pet&Fresh had expanded to more than 20 stores across 10 districts in the city, each one operating on the same idea: freshness as care, nutrition as daily ritual.

The goal is ambitious – 100 stores by 2025, reaching full coverage of Shanghai's major urban areas. It's a plan that feels less like a retail rollout than the quiet mapping of a new kind of household habit.

At its core, Pet&Fresh is built around a simple idea: to bring pets back to a more natural way of eating. The brand promotes a fresh-food-based nutritional structure – food that looks, smells, and feels closer to what an animal might choose for itself. Its shelves stretch across every category: daily meals, supplements, medicine, supplies, and small indulgences. The format is comprehensive but considered – part fresh food workshop, part social space, part full-line retailer.

Inside each store, a made-to-order counter anchors the experience. Customers choose from nearly twenty meats and vegetables – chicken hearts, shrimp, beef lung, broccoli – arranged neatly in trays behind glass. Staff assemble the meals on the spot, portioned and balanced to order.

Among employees, the setup has earned a quiet nickname: the "cat and dog spicy hotpot." It's a small joke, but it captures the spirit of the place – fresh, lively, and just a little indulgent, a reminder that care can be both nutritional and joyful.

If you go...

Opening Hours:10am-10pm

Address: Bldg B, L1, C Park Haishu Cultural Square, 666 Zhaohua Rd

昭化路666号海粟文化广场B栋L1

Shanghai's Pet Landmarks Go Big and Bold

By 2025, China's offline pet market is still gathering speed. Growth feels steady, not frantic – the kind that comes from confidence rather than novelty. Market expansion and rising consumer expectations continue to reshape the landscape, dividing it into finer segments. Large chains push outward, small independents turn inward, and somewhere in between, the industry keeps finding new ways to define itself.

For the big players, the strategy is clear: build hubs in the cities that set the tone. Cheerwin Group has done just that, focusing on Shenzhen and Shanghai, where pet ownership runs high. Its two major retail lines – Mele Family Store and Zhua Zhua Cat Planet – have grown quickly; by May 2025, the company counted 68 stores across the country.

Elsewhere, younger brands are carving out their own space by narrowing their focus. Pawbby, a rising name, leans into the small discomforts of pet life – cat litter odor, the quiet details that define daily care. Its marketing speaks to a younger audience, moving fluidly between Xiaohongshu (Rednote), where curiosity begins, and Douyin, where attention turns to action. The approach works: across China, the pace of new store openings has accelerated, each one a small sign of how this market keeps learning to renew itself.

According to data from the China Organization Data Service, as of July 31, 2025, more than 5 million pet-related businesses were registered across the country. Nearly 90 percent of them have appeared within the past five years – a statistic that says less about quantity than about speed. The industry isn't just growing; it's multiplying, evolving, spilling into new forms of commerce and experience.

Many of the newcomers are not traditional pet companies at all. They come from other sectors – lifestyle, retail, technology – drawn in by what they call ecosystem extension or experience-driven innovation. The language is corporate; the result is often playful. Out of this has grown a new kind of venue: the pet amusement park.

In April 2025, Alfie & Buddy Pet Mart opened its first national store in Shanghai, followed by the debut of its first offline IP-themed amusement park at the Bund Financial Center. The move blurs the line between shopping and leisure, turning pet ownership into an afternoon out – a mix of retail, play, and spectacle, all under the same roof.

The new Alfie & Buddy Pet Mart isn't just built for pets; it's designed for the people who come with them. The space feels light and playful – a place to linger as much as to shop. Along the aisles, Disney-themed merchandise fills the shelves: Zootopia, Toy Story, the wide-eyed green Alien from Pixar's universe. It's the kind of curation that feels deliberate, nostalgic, and faintly indulgent. Two resident cats wander the floor, appointed as unofficial "store managers," softening the edges of what might otherwise feel like a retail concept.

Alfie & Buddy holds a distinction no other Chinese pet food brand can claim – it is the only one officially authorized by Disney. The partnership underscores what the brand has emphasized from the start: safety, quality, and a kind of approachable joy.

Founded in July 2017, Alfie & Buddy began with a focus on staple food and snacks. By June 2019, it had entered Tmall, offering an expanded range that included cat snacks, cat litter, and dog treats. The growth since then has been quiet but steady – an evolution from online shelves to a physical world that invites both people and pets to explore together.

If you go...

Opening Hours:10am-10pm

Address: B1, North Zone, Bund Financial Center, 600 Zhongshan Rd E2

中山东二路600号外滩金融中心北区B1层

By the way, the B1 floor of BFC's North Zone has even become home to the BFC Bund Fluffy Club – basically a happy paradise for pets. Alongside Alfie & Buddy Pet Mart, you'll also find trendy spots like the Air Park (a pet-and-human-friendly playground), re: snugoas, and Pet Wish, among others.

Another milestone arrived in June, when D&L Pets Department Store opened at Raffles City Changning – a two-story, 1,000-square-meter "pet wonderland" set inside a restored historic building. The contrast feels deliberate: old walls, new purpose, a sense of the past repurposed for something gentler.

Branded as the company's new 4.0 standalone "D&L Wonderland," the space spans two levels, bringing together more than 300 pet brands and 20,000 products. But it's more than retail. The design carries a sense of community – part playground, part therapy, part quiet indulgence.

This is, by all measures, China's first full-scale social and therapeutic complex for pets and their owners. Inside, there are two indoor pet parks, a pet-friendly dining area, a pharmacy, a hotel, and even an adoption center. The idea is simple but new: to gather every aspect of care – emotional, medical, social – under one roof, and to make the experience feel less transactional, more human.

Inside the new D&L Pets Department Store, the day feels social by design. Regular pet parties bring animals and owners together, turning the space into a small community – dogs meeting on polished floors, cats watching from carriers, owners trading small talk between shelves.

The first floor carries the familiar rhythm of retail: open shelving lined with food, toys, and grooming essentials, everything within easy reach. Toward the back, a luxury grooming salon hums softly beside a pet-friendly restaurant, the scent of coffee and shampoo crossing briefly in the air. Together, they cover the daily rituals – feeding, cleaning, waiting – that define modern pet life.

For those who prefer to handle care themselves, there's a self-service grooming station for owners to wash and dry their pets at half the usual cost. The setup feels simple but clever – a small gesture toward participation, making care an experience rather than a transaction.

Founded in 2019, D&L Pets is one of China's first true pet department stores, a collection brand with an eye for design and trend. Its curation blends domestic and international names, focusing on the kind of products that speak to both aesthetics and need. The result is a space that feels less like a shop and more like a reflection of how the country's urban pet culture now sees itself – modern, attentive, and quietly sophisticated.

Opening Hours:10am-10pm

Address:H5, 1197 Changning Rd

长宁路1197号H5号

Shanghai Sets the Stage for the Next Wave of Pet Stores

Elsewhere in the city, new ideas keep surfacing. Pet-themed restaurants and pet-friendly store upgrades are drawing families who want to share more than a meal or a walk – they want shared experiences. These cross-industry collaborations blur the boundaries between dining, retail and leisure, turning what was once a single transaction into something closer to a lifestyle. The model signals a broader shift: From selling products to offering full life-cycle services, where care extends from the bowl to the bond itself.

As owners pay closer attention to their pets' health and emotional well-being, the market is learning to compete differently. The old race for expansion is giving way to a quieter contest – one measured in quality, design and trust.

Shanghai, as always, leads the experiment. The city remains the testing ground for how the country's relationship with animals continues to evolve. From wellness-focused grooming studios to tech-enabled care, each first store that opens offers a glimpse of what's coming next. The lines between lifestyle, retail and companionship will keep softening, reflecting a culture where pets are no longer decoration but kin.

In that sense, Shanghai isn't just selling products. It's shaping a new rhythm of life – one built on the small, daily acts of care that define how modern China lives, shops and loves.