The city's first Scandinavian concept store opens

If you are a fan of Swedish designer Ann-Sofie Back or were interested in the Odeur show at last year's Shanghai Fashion Week, the first thing to do this year is to watch your wallet.

Shanghai’s first Scandinavian concept store, Göte Göta, is now open in a 76-year-old, French Concession house on Xiangyang Nan Lu, dangerously located above an “Awfully Chocolate" outlet.

So more accurately -- better watch your wallet and wasteline.

According to Göte Göta’s press release, the store currently offers 11 new brands by Swedish and Norwegian designers, and will up their stock to 30 labels later this year.

Designers currently on the shelves include Ann-Sofie Back, Camilla Norrback, Noir & Blanc and Odeur. Prices start around RMB 1,800.

“All these brands are selected by out Chinese creative director, Bono Zhang, and expected to meet Chinese aesthetic customs,” says Liu Yongyan, Göte Göta’s co-founder and brand manager.

Göte Göta, together with Kosta Boda, a leading Swedish art glass company, will launch an exhibit called “Crystal Fashion Interaction,” to showcase art collaborations designed by Asa Ljungnelius and Bertil Vallien. The exhibition starts today at the store and lasts until February 18 -- excluding the first two days of Chinese New Year.

The press release claims that the "simple" Nordic style will soon lead Chinese fashion trends and this store is just the tip of the fashionable iceberg.

Although a good marketing line, some local experts don't agree.

“Most of the Chinese consumers don’t like simple things," says Ye Qizheng, the funder of a Shanghai-based “Fashion Trend Digest” website. "So the style may not become the Chinese mainstream. How they promote the brand is the key to penetrating the Shanghai market.”