GROCERY SHOPPING

The good news is that groceries overall in Shanghai are cheaper than most western countries, although it does depend what you are buying and products that need to be imported, such as French cheeses, can be far more expensive than back home due to high logistics costs including import taxes. But anything produced locally will likely be significantly cheaper than most other countries.

Local Groceries
Many people do the majority of even all of their grocery shopping online via apps. Hema for example, is a very popular online grocery retailer, although they do have some physical stores around the city for people who prefer to browse in person. There are also local chains such as Lianhua and Hualian (these sound similar but are different) for those who want to walk around a physical store and inspect the products before buying.

There are also wet markets, which tend to be open air markets where you can buy fresh, unpackaged vergetables and meat. Wet markets tend to be cheaper than supermarkets or hypermarkets (larger supermarkets) and you can buy in very small quanitities if needed, since you usually pay according to the weight.

Imported / Foreign Groceries
More upmarket chains like City Super and Ole sell a lot if imported products such as Iberian ham from Spain, cheeses from France etc. These stores also have local products on offer, but prices are overall higher than the local grocery stores.

There are also more specialised companies such as Breakfast Champion, selling British products such as British style bacon, sausages, crisps (potato chips), confectionery, tea bags and more. Prices are going to be significantly higher than back home, but that mostly reflects the logistical costs of transporting the goods to China.