Because we need more stores we cant afford anything in - Harry Winston is coming to tow “Harry Winston Diamond Corp, the Canadian mining group which owns the jewelers, has this week announced plans to build a flagship store in the sprawling metropolis of Shanghai. And it will be pretty hard to miss, boasting a 12-meter high façade a company spokesman says will be like a "billboard to the world, a billboard to the Chinese people. The 460-square-meter flagship store - to be opened "before January" next year, according to the company - will be supplemented by a salon inside the lobby of the Peninsula Shanghai hotel….Media reports have suggested the company has plans for up to as many as 10 outlets in China.” [Independent UK] more ›

Long lines! Crazy crowds! Feeding frenzy! Extended wait times to see stuff you've seen elsewhere... no, we're not talking about a day at the Expo. more ›

• There've been rumors for years about an Apple flagship store coming to Shanghai, but apparently Apple COO Tim Cook has let slip that it's a "definite go" and it'll be coming this summer. [Iphonasia]
• Hey hey! Shanghai has beat out New York to become the world's second most attractive city, according to Rusnews, a pairing between the Paris Ile de France Capitale Economique and KPMG. The list was based on investigations by 500 merchants and investment data, and include standards such as political stability, legal safety and the city's economic condition. [People's Daily]
• Six marathon runners in last year's Shanghai International Marathon have been disqualified for taking shortcuts. Athletes No.s 2898, 2725, 3137, 2845, 2846 and 995 - mostly high school students - cheated in various sections of the race. [Shanghai Daily]

You know what else was special about yesterday? After 12 years in the country, Gucci has finally opened a flagship store and it's located in Shanghai, according to Wallpaper magazine. The new flagship takes up two floors in the Golden Eagle Center on Shaanxi Bei Lu and showcases the company's full range of menswear, womenswear and accessories. It joins 28 of its smaller but no less opulent sister stores in China. Wallpaper can't help but throw a comment out about how crazy it is that Gucci's spread out so much in this "communist" country. Funny. We thought jokes about the facade of communism in the PRC were soooo last decade. more ›