Good retail design is effective brand communication. The ubiquity of shopping centres does little to differentiate one shop from another, and it falls to the individual retailer to craft a shop that communicates a message unique to its own products. As one of the new fashion centres of the world, urban Shanghai has become a living sourcebook for retail design, synthesising traditional and modern architectural influences both Eastern and Western. Alternative Shops is an exhilarating visual journey through some of the most vibrant and distinctive boutiques in Shanghai. Illustrated with full-colour photographs, it showcases the diverse and compelling ways in which space is used to create some of the most coherent and powerful brand identities today.