CityShop is the largest chain store catering for Expats needs. It has 9 retail branches located in different areas in Shanghai and Beijing.
Personally I think that the store with more variety of products, better service and better storing is the Gubei branch on the Puxi side, and the Yanlord Reverside City branch on the Pudong side.
You can also conveniently shop online through their website.
Tomatogirl.cn is an English website for online grocery shopping. It has a quite good variety of imported products. All you need is to register and start selecting the items you want to buy and they will deliver the same day if you place your order before 9 am. Deliver is free for orders above 200 rmb otherwise there is a 15 rmb delivery fee.
For more information visit their website.
Carrefour is the French grocery chain located everywhere in China. Every branch has a little section for imported products with prices slightly cheaper than CityShop, Pines or Smartdirect.cn. However it is messy, disorganized, crowded and noisy and most likely you won’t be able to find what you are looking for. I would reccomend Carrefour only for non imported items.
If you can speak and read chinese, Taobao is a convenient website where you will be able to buy what you can’t find at the expat grocery stores in town.
All you have to do is open an account connected to your bank account, type in Chinese the item/s you want to buy, contact the seller and just wait home for him to deliver. Delivery fees are generally low, depending from the city the product is being delivered.
If you cannot speak/read Chinese I will be more than happy to help you placing your order, just write me to: expatcucina@gmail.com
Need good coffee and Tea? Well give a look at Castellari Caffe. Free espresso machine and delightful Italian strong coffee, American long coffee or a wide variety of teas.
If you are tired of stiff, Chinese meat and you are looking for tender, premium cuts, go check Baodefood.com. They offer a wide variety of imported meat at very reasonable prices. Delivery is free. Among their products you can also find high quality extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and gourmet prepared food!
If you need to buy cooking accessories there are a bunch of places you can visit.
I personally like the little stores at the Hongqiao flour market, they sell a lot of useful items like measuring cups, waffles pan, blenders, cookie cutters, ext.
Here is a list:
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You should include http://www.baodefood.com in your list. It’s the retail division of an importer of food and wine to China. The company primarily supplies 5 star hotels and restaurants throughout China and the quality can’t be matched in China, especially when it comes to steak – choose between grain or grass fed and a number of different cuts.
They offer home delivery to customers in Beijing and Shanghai.
Before listing it I’ll have to try some of its products in order to suggest or not my readers to shop there. But thanks for pointing it out