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Independent coffee shop VS large chain coffee shop? Independent cafes have become the mainstream of Shanghai cafes!

Published: 2026-08-01 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/08/01, With the rapid changes of the times, Shanghai cafes have experienced ups and downs, forming a situation in which large chain cafes and independent cafes are divided into two parts. Coffee chains such as Starbucks, McCoffee and Ruixing all want to become the mainstream of Shanghai cafes. From the point of view of distribution, there is a trend of more cafes in the city center and less in the suburbs. Divided by streets, 16 districts in Shanghai 10

With the rapid changes of the times, Shanghai cafes have experienced ups and downs, forming a situation in which large chain cafes and independent cafes are divided into two parts. Coffee chains such as Starbucks, McCoffee and Ruixing all want to become the mainstream of Shanghai cafes.

From the point of view of distribution, there is a trend of more cafes in the city center and less in the suburbs. Divided by streets, there are 107 streets, 106 towns and 2 townships in 16 districts of Shanghai. Lujiazui Street in Pudong New area has the largest number of cafes, with a total of 164. The office buildings in Lujiazui in Shanghai are very dense, and many white-collar workers are often seen buying coffee. Whether in large chain cafes such as Starbucks or independent cafes, dense crowds can be seen lining up to buy coffee.

In addition, according to statistics, the number of Starbucks stores in Shanghai is almost twice that of Luckin Coffee, and the number of large cafes is astonishing. It is worth noting that among the many cafes in Shanghai, the mainstream cafes are not large chain cafes such as Starbucks, but independent cafes.

According to Shangguan News, among all the cafes in Shanghai, there are 4239 independent cafes, accounting for 64%.

After careful study, in fact, the mainstream of Shanghai cafes can be divided into two groups.

On the one hand, there are large coffee chains (with 10 or more stores), and Starbucks ranks first in the number of stores in Shanghai. The second is Luckin Coffee, the third is McCoffee.

The other is the independent coffee shop, which mainly relies on the concept of "boutique coffee" to attract consumers.

Some independent cafes focus on the concept of boutique coffee. According to the scoring standard set by the American Fine Coffee Association, only coffee beans with a score of 80 or more in the cup test can be called fine coffee, and the price of fine coffee is much higher than that of commercial coffee beans. Therefore, the price of coffee in these independent cafes will be higher than that of ordinary coffee. the lowest price of a latte is at least over 20 or 30, while the price of a cup of high-quality hand-brewed coffee is above 60.

Of course, in addition to the concept of boutique coffee in independent cafes, there are also some chain cafes with the concept of boutique coffee, such as the Taiguhui Starbucks Roasters on Nanjing West Road in Jing'an District.

Nowadays, everyone is pursuing themselves and expressing their personality, and the existence of independent cafes satisfies this personalized pursuit, which is one of the reasons why independent cafes in Shanghai are easier to enter the public than chain cafes.

In addition, from the competition of Shanghai cafes, it can also be found that the consumer groups of independent cafes will become larger and larger in the future, the competition in China's coffee market will become more and more fierce, and the division of coffee market will become more and more subdivided.

This also confirms the rise of Shanghai's boutique coffee driven by the third boutique coffee wave, and the cafe has become the third space for Shanghainese besides home and work area. Coffee has become the daily demand of urban people in Shanghai, which is the biggest difference between Shanghai and other cities. Shanghai cafes no longer exist as the only social space, but have entered the daily life of Shanghainese.

Shanghai is one of the cities with the strongest coffee culture in China, and there are cafes rising up almost every day. The reason why it can become the leader of Chinese coffee market does not depend on the number of coffee shops, but on the richness and diversity of its consumption level.

* Image source: Internet

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