After an 18-month renovation, Chanel will reopen its landmark store on Saturday at Shanghai’s Plaza 66 — the epitome of luxury retail in the major Chinese hub.
The boutique, which counts a generous 2,973 square meters, is almost twice the size of its previous space.
The flagship stands out as Chanel’s first location worldwide that offers the complete ”Chanel ecosystem,“ which encompasses fashion, watches and fine jewelry, Les Ateliers, Les Salons Privé, and beauty and fragrances boutiques.
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Chanel originally opened its boutique at Plaza 66 24 years ago, the brand’s first for the Shanghai market.
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During the renovation process, boutique operations continued on the fourth floor of Plaza 66.
Officially opening on Saturday, the three-story space includes the French luxury brand’s ready-to-wear, bags and shoes products, as well as a rich watches and fine jewelry selection.
“It will be the Chanel universe,” said Bruno Pavlovsky in an exclusive interview with WWD. “Plaza 66 is one of our top boutiques in the world, and it was super important to offer the best experience and the best of the brand to our clients — we have a lot of VICs in China,” enthused Pavlovsky.
“I’m insisting that we’re not trying to compete by building the biggest boutique in the world; what we want is to create the perfect box to offer this ultimate experience,” Pavlovsky emphasized.
“Our VICs are quite demanding, but we also have clients who are coming here to buy a pair of shoes, a piece of jewelry, that’s why three floors are quite important, because that will allow the right circulation in the boutique,” Pavlovsky continued.
Redesigned by Chanel’s longtime collaborator, the architect Peter Marino, the space is a distillation of Chanel’s retail aesthetic finessed by Marino throughout the years.
The interior facades, which get ample sunlight via the shopping mall’s glass lighting roof, present themselves in polished white panels and are framed in graphic black; at one end, vertical panels appear to be pleated like fabric, which echoes the geometry of the building. With more discreet display windows compared to the previous iteration, the store exudes a natural sense of privacy.
Once inside, guests can browse the latest handbag and accessories collections, or turn left and enter a black and golden space that houses watches and fine jewelry. Within the two adjoining salons, guests can choose from popular fine jewelry lines, such as Coco Crush and No.5, along with J12 and Première watches. Aside from its most signature high jewelry pieces, three specially selected patrimoine high jewelry pieces, which are displayed within a VIP room outfitted with camellia coromandel dividers and Regency-era mirrors, are meant to pay tribute to Chanel’s ties to the world of cinema.
To create dialogues with local culture, a collection of bronze Chinese Fang Vases from the Han Dynasty, and a contemporary work by Bouke de Vries — inspired by the aesthetics of the Tang Dynasty — are in sync with the hammered bronze and gilded textures of the space.
Toward the other end of the first floor is a grand white stone staircase that connects all three floors, whose golden handrails are created by Goossens — it is also animated by a sculpture of aluminum beads swathed in gold leaf — a site-specific work by the contemporary artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. Six silk screen prints on gold-leafed paper adorn the walls, offering the Yin to the Yang that is Othoniel’s work.
The second floor boasts three salons of various color stories — the space opens with Chanel’s cruise 2026 collection, first unveiled at Lake Como, Italy, which is rich in pastels. A more private salon goes on to highlight the classic Chanel color code — black and white. The salon leads to a spacious fitting room where guests can also entertain their friends.
The third salon, which features Arnold Armand’s signature “Mali” table, leads to the elevator tunnel adorned by golden tweed-like walls — for the guests, the elevator’s infinity mirror makes for a perfect selfie moment.
On the lower ground floor is the brand’s Shoe Salon, where two adjacent spaces are covered in floor-to-ceiling shelves, plush wool carpets and sofas that invite guests to try on footwear from its cruise 2026, Coco Neige, and carryover collections.
On the third floor of the shopping mall is Chanel’s Les Salons Privé, which is reserved for VIP clients. A quick walk along the mall corridor leads guests to Chanel’s beauty and fragrances boutique, then its repair and alteration service space Les Ateliers, which quietly opened this July.
To fete the launch of the store, Chanel hosted two dinner parties at a Plaza 66 restaurant for its super clients — according to Pavlovsky, 90 percent of the Plaza 66 clientele are local residents.
According to posts shared by these VICs, the celebratory dinner featured an intimate performance by the Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao. Prior to the official opening date, guests also enjoyed an exclusive preview of the store.
One of China’s most successful commercial retail developments, Plaza 66, which also houses major flagships for Louis Vuitton and Dior, is undergoing an ambitious expansion plan to meet Chinese shoppers’ increasingly discerning need for experiential retail. The project is set to be completed in the second half of 2026.