New Year's dining spurs Shanghai consumption

With the arrival of 2026 just around the corner, New Year's Eve activities, which started 10 days before the night itself, have become a trendy hook for promoting consumption in Shanghai, according to multiple sources.

The catering sector is the first to experience consumers' enthusiasm as many eateries' New Year's Eve dinner bookings are booming. During a recent peak dining period at a restaurant in Huangpu district, manager Huang Caixin pays attention to the needs of customers, while also keeping an eye on his phone to deal with online reservations.

"Approaching the end of the year, there is an increasing number of consumers eager to celebrate the coming of a new year. Our reservations for New Year's Eve dinner are almost fully booked," he said.

Huang said that in recent years, New Year's Eve dinner has become increasingly popular, and young people make up a large share of consumers. The demographic values not only the dishes themselves, but also emotional resonance and atmosphere. In addition, they pay attention to the location of eateries, and river-view restaurants have become a trendy dining spot for New Year's Eve dinners, he said.

Meanwhile, time-honored restaurants are also popular spots for New Year's Eve dinners. Lu Yaming, general manager of a restaurant in tourism attraction Yuyuan Garden, said that private dining rooms on Dec 31 are almost fully booked.

"The concept of New Year's Eve dinner is a new growth point for consumption," Lu said.

Mo Cha, a 33-year-old office clerk in Shanghai, said that she has already reserved a bistro in Xuhui district for New Year's Eve.

"Dining out on New Year's Eve conforms to the New Year's atmosphere, and spending the special night out with the crowd is festive. Also, I want to eat something good during the holiday," she said.

When asked about the budget, Mo said that her expected budget is 300 yuan ($42.7) to 500 yuan per person.

Shopping malls are also launching promotional New Year-themed activities to boost consumption.

Shanghai No 1 Yaohan mall extended its "discount day" from one day to 11 days, celebrating the arrival of the New Year. The gold jewelry counter is one of the hottest destinations. A female consumer, surnamed Zhang, just selected a golden bracelet weighing 13 grams. "I shop at the gold jewelry counter every New Year's Eve. It's like a celebration."

Mall management said that this year, discounts on gold jewelry are unprecedented. Li Xiaodong, head of a gold store, said the yellow metal is sold at the original price minus 40 yuan per gram, and some jewelry enjoys 12 percent discounts as well as other shopping mall coupon savings.

"If the discount is fully utilized, it is equivalent to a 26-percent discount," Li said.

In the West Bund in Xuhui district, consumers line up in front of an artificial intelligence camera machine. With just a simple click to capture a shopper's face, the AI camera machine puts virtual makeup and wardrobe options on the consumer and prints out a photo. For example, on Christmas Day, holiday revelers could see themselves inside a festive crystal ball, dressed in a red dress, with a Christmas tree in the background under snowy skies.

Li Dingpan, founder of Pixel Flux Inc — a company engaged in AI cameras — said: "Approaching New Year's Day, consumers want to take some photos to capture the moment. However, traditional photographic studios are time-consuming and expensive, giving us opportunities. Consumers, especially females and those above 50, are willing to pay for the AI pictures. Our daily sales revenue during weekends is above 10,000 yuan."

Numerous brands choose to make their China debut in Shanghai before New Year's Day. For example, Beyond The Vines from Singapore, and Sporty & Rich from the United States opened their first stores in China around this time, injecting new momentum into consumption in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Ann Andelman Cafe made its global debut in Shanghai, while Acne Studios brought an exclusive winter series flash sale for early release.

Data from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics showed that in the first 11 months, Shanghai's total retail sales of consumer goods surpassed 1.52 trillion yuan, up 5 percent year-on-year.