Inside Harrods’ new Shanghai private members’ club: The Residence offers China’s ultra-wealthy seclusion, rare whisky and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in the Asian financial hub

Jul 19 , 2023

Welcome to The Residence, Harrods’ first private members’ club, opening later this year in Shanghai, and offering China’s ultra-elite an exclusive dose of distinctly British hospitality. Photo: Harrods

Iconic London department store Harrods will open a new private members club in Shanghai, the first of its kind outside the UK, in a bid to tap resilient demand from ultra-wealthy Chinese amid a slowing recovery in consumption.

Inside The Residence, Harrods’ new members’ club in Shanghai. Photo: Harrods

The new club, called The Residence, will open at the end of this year on the second floor of Cha House, a central Shanghai heritage building where a Harrods tea room and bar, which are open to public, are already located.

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Checking in style at The Residence in Shanghai. Photo: Harrods

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in the Chinese financial and retail capital will be housed inside the club, where annual fees will start at 150,000 yuan (US$21,000).

Harrods services the top 1 per cent of the world’s wealth … we know that the wealth in China will grow

Michael Ward, Harrods

Care for a drink? The bar at The Residence. Photo: Harrods

Residence members will also be able to collect rare bottles of alcohol through Harrods’ partnership with premier Scottish whisky company Edrington, and have access to the store’s global concierge services. The club will accept 250 members to start.

The wide terrace at The Residence. Photo: Harrods

Chinese customers contributed 16 per cent of Harrods’ sales last year, Michael Ward, Harrods’ managing director told Bloomberg in an interview. Moreover, Chinese luxury shoppers who mostly spent overseas before the pandemic have begun turning inward in the pandemic’s wake, as the range of domestic offerings grows and prices rise around the world – hindering their enthusiasm for leaving home.

Big enough to share: the large lounging areas at The Residence. Photo: Harrods

“We always knew that shopping would go back to China,” Ward said. “We want to have a base to be able to maintain that relationship as we have really great customers in China.”

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Chinese consumers are among the world’s most influential, accounting for about a fifth of the US$325.4 billion global luxury market, according to PwC estimates. As they increasingly shop in the mainland, top global brands are expanding their domestic footprints.

Tables spare at The Residence in Shanghai. Photo: Harrods

Luxury behemoth LVMH is shifting resources out of Hong Kong to focus on mainland China, while Hermès has been opening new stores or revamping existing storefronts. Online luxury retailer Mytheresa set up its first Asian office in Shanghai last summer to provide on-the-ground personal shopping services to court locals who couldn’t visit overseas luxury hubs as Covid-19 shut Chinese borders.

Ready for the 1 per cent. Photo: Harrods

Still, offerings like The Residence are counting on big spenders to continue those ways despite increasing economic uncertainty in China, as a post-Covid rebound loses momentum and youth unemployment surges. China’s economy grew slower than expected in the second quarter, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows, with worrying signs of a slowdown in consumer spending and ongoing pain in the property market prompting calls for more support from Beijing.

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Ready for service at The Residence. Photo: Harrods

“Harrods services the top 1 per cent of the world’s wealth,” Ward said. “If I was in the mid-market at the moment, I wouldn’t be doing this. But we know that the wealth in China will grow. And we will just continue to focus on those relationships with the very top of the top.”

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Luxury in China

The Residence marks the iconic London department store’s first membership-only venture outside the UK in a bid to captivate China’s insatiable 1 per cent
Limited to just 250 places, members will have access to the store’s global concierge services and be able to collect rare spirits through a partnership with Scottish whisky company Edrington