Most Original Christmas Presents – Painter Street

Ever wanted to replace a celebrity mugshot with your friend’s face, but needed a medium classier than Photoshop? The Painter Street in Xujiahui is the answer to your prayers. Recent graduates of art schools are waiting with paintbrushes in hand to turn magazine pages and old photographs into mantle place-worthy art. Prices aren’t bad considering you’re commissioning your own painting, and the alley is next to a huge furniture markets so you can easily redecorate according to your painting’s colour scheme.

Painter’s Street, 212 Wending Lu near Nandan Lu

Neighbourhood Cigar and Wine Bar – Sommelier

Good cigars are often likened to great wines, and at this newly-opened epicurean shop, you can have both. The Shanghainese owner prefers the Old World terroir of Europe and only the finest tobacco leaves from Cuba, thus a wine rack and humidor boast the best of both regions. The store doubles as a wine and cigar bar, and you’re invited to kick back and talk about what great taste in luxury products you have while enjoying your purchases at a tea table in the back room.

115 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu. Tel: 159 0538 8185

Pimp Your Kitchen – Shanghai Hotel Equipment Centre

Forget IKEA, Pantry Magic and that tragic little corner store hawking aluminum pots and pans that melt on high heat. Shanghai Hotel Equipment Centre is the be all and end all of shops designed to stock your kitchen in this city. The warehouse stretches over three floors, all filled to the brim with every imaginable cooking accessory, from gas stoves to glassware to industrial-sized woks. Did we mention that everything is going for wholesale prices to boot?

345 Aomen Lu, near Jiangning Lu Recommended by Shopping Tours Shanghai.

Web: www.shoppingtoursshanghai.com