Shop Talk: Snoop Dogg to Shanghaiist: Blaze 'em up!

Sideways on Xinle Lu

... And we listen to whatever Snoop says, and heck, we even use his search engine. Shanghaiist recently discovered a little store by the name of Sideways on 144 Xinle Lu which among other things, sells some paraphernalia. You can get some pipes in the 100-200 RMB range, but a real bong will set you back at least 300 RMB. The biggest bongs in the store cost about 700-800 RMB. You can also get rolling paper, and, in order to complete the look, your standard issue Rastafarian garb, track suits with rainbow stripes, wool caps, etc. In fact, the whole store has an old skool vibe -- think Velvet Underground, Bruce Lee, Andy Warhol, Vespas and classic Mini Coopers.

They also have a nice assortment of wool sweaters, notebooks, old skool robot toys, and all kinds of things. We also liked the little carpet in the dressing room shaped like the head of a guy with shades and an afro. Xinle Lu, in that little stretch between Fumin Lu and Shaanxi Lu, has slowly but surely become overrun by sale-tag fashionistas and disheveled hipsters. Come to think of it, Shanghaiist kinda falls into that category, but nonetheless, we're not altogether happy about these developments because of that weird keeping up with the Joneses vibe that tends to infect places like Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. So no, that wasn't Shanghaiist you saw at Boona with a cigarette dangling from our mouths and our fingernails pared down to the plates so as to type as fast as possible. It was just some unhygienic poseur, and we daresay one of those culpable for ruining good places like Tang Hui.

Sideways is located at 144 Xinle Lu (新乐路144号）between Fumin Lu and Xiangyang Lu.

Shop Talk is a semi-regular feature on Shanghaiist that highlights noteworthy shops in Shanghai. Got a store you think deserves consideration? Email us at tips(@)shanghaiist.com.