After an extensive search, Ms Min has found a new location as its Shanghai retail outpost, a storied architectural marvel that share an Art Deco fountain with its neighbors.
For Min, the ambience creates “an abundance of life” that only comes from lived-in quarters.
“The fountain is such a gift,” said brand founder Liu Min of the compound’s private garden space. “As I walked down the street, I couldn’t help but marvel at the French plane trees, the local art academy, the opera academy, even the senior citizens’ center,” Min said of the store’s surroundings, a particularly charming setup that reflects the area’s distinct blend of cultural retail and residential life.
The new store, adopting the prestigious address of No.190 Yueyang Road — a wartime hospital almost a century ago — is the brand’s third brick-and-mortar project since 2016. The brand opened its first store amid the bustle of Jing’an district, then relocated to the luxury shopping mall Qiantan Taikoo Li, before settling in downtown Xuhui district.
“I hope it will give the work we put so much care into a place to breathe and be shared, where we can connect with more kindred spirits — if fate brings people together,” Liu said.
Designed by the Shanghai-based Onoaa Studio, the two-story store boasts a pure white facade and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that bring tree shadows, changing lights and rhythms of the street into the store.
Once inside, guests are able to enjoy a relaxed open space — fully stocked with the brand’s latest ready-to-wear and accessories collection — that opens up with clouded marble flooring, white walls and a narrow and elongated staircase — tucked in the middle of the L-shaped first floor — that leads to a more private second floor.
A long horizontal window sets the tone for a more intimate setting on the second floor, inviting guests to lounge and slow down. Within the floor’s VIP room hangs a calligraphic work bearing the Chinese characters for “infinity,” a work Liu created many years ago that gestures towards “the undefined possibility of life,” according to Liu. “After more than a decade of growth, this pursuit of the infinite has settled into a more assured inner order, bringing clarity,” Liu added.
Artworks acquired by Liu throughout the years, including sculptural ceramics by the Spanish designer Xavier Mañosa, a glass-and-concrete coffee table created in the 1970s by Italian designer Claudio Trevi, a vintage Murano glass chandelier from Austria, and a prayer stool created by Dutch designer Jan de Jong, are firmly rooted in Liu’s love of the original characters of material and how that creates subtle harmony.
A tree philodendron that has followed Ms Min through different stages of its retail expansion, has also found a new home at the brand’s Yueyang Road space in Shanghai. First introduced at its Taikoo Li Qiantan store in 2022, the plant nearly withered after being left unattended for several months during the COVID-19 lockdown. It was later relocated to Xiamen, where the care of family and a gardener helped nurse it back to health. Now lush with leaves, its return to Shanghai offers a living record of the brand’s evolution and growth.
Founded in 2010 in Xiamen, Fujian province, Ms Min became one of the first Chinese designers to become a LVMH Prize semifinalist.
After serving as the brand’s creative head, Liu recently took on the role of chief executive officer, gradually learning the business side of the company without rushing its growth — an approach that mirrors her patience in overseeing the plant’s recovery.
“It’s simply about doing our best with every product and every service, and cherishing every encounter. We should allow Ms Min to grow organically and, within its ecosystem, gradually realize the abundance that has always been within it,” Liu said.
