Hustle and bustle on Shanghai's Nanjing Road at night. [Photo/eastday.com]

Near the new landscape on Shanghai's Huaihai Middle Road, the TX Huaihai, long queues can be seen every day, not only outside some time-honored brands, but also many emerging "web celebrities".

Many say there is a "tradition of queuing" in Shanghai's catering culture. Behind the queues is the unique attitude of Shanghai consumers to enjoying the good life. Only those brands and products that are outstanding enough are worth waiting for.

Classic time-honored brands and the vitality of web celebrity stores

Consumers are willing to spend time waiting in line for time-honored brands. What they trust is the brand power – the craftsmanship that time-honored brands have adhered to for many years.

For Generation Z (people born in the mid-1990s and the early 2000s), emerging web celebrity stores are more worth waiting for. On May 15, when the first Shanghai store of US fried chicken fast food restaurant chain Popeyes opened on Huaihai Middle Road, some customers began to line up at 4 am.

Web celebrity stores represent young consumers' unique views on trends and quality life, according to Lu Shujiang, secretary-general of Shanghai Council of Shopping Centers.

Creativity, the key element for evergreen brands

Consumers are always looking for the latest trendy products. No matter whether they're from time-honored brands or web celebrity stores, creativity is the key to success.

With the Dragon Boat Festival around the corner, time-honored brands in Shanghai have started a zongzi (a pyramidal glutinous-rice dumpling) war.

Sunya Cantonese Restaurant has changed the traditional domestic pork filling to imported Iberian pork from Spain. Ning Bo Dumplings, founded in 1945, launched a brand new curried beef zongzi.

Web celebrity stores are products of innovation, but it's easy to change from web celebrity to evergreen brand, depending on creativity and quality.

Web celebrity representative, cheese tea maker HEYTEA opened its first limited store in Shanghai recently, which will launch more limited products. Nie Yunchen, founder of HEYTEA, believes that the battle between web celebrity tea makers has actually been transformed into a battle of innovative ability.

"Only through continuous innovation and quality improvement can we gradually settle down and become a new brand representing Shanghai catering culture," said Nie.