Wilson Turns A Tennis Store Into An Urban Living Room In Shanghai.
At Qingdi, Wilson connects tennis heritage, local architecture, craftsmanship and hospitality to create something more considered than a conventional sports store. The bigger idea is not simply how tennis is played, but how it becomes part of everyday life.
Beyond The Court, Into Everyday Life
Tennis is having an interesting cultural moment. The sport's influence increasingly extends beyond the court, shaping fashion, hospitality, social rituals and the way people identify with an active lifestyle. But there is a difference between borrowing the visual codes of tennis and genuinely understanding the culture surrounding it.
Wilson's Qingdi concept store in Shanghai's Xintiandi explores that distinction, taking a century-old performance brand and placing it within a much more intimate, residential environment. Designed by Xie Ke, founder of Signyan Design, the store combines tennis equipment, apparel, footwear, professional services, archival objects, hospitality and social spaces inside a historic Shikumen building.
Yet what makes the concept interesting is not the combination of functions alone. It is the decision to make the store feel like somewhere you might actually want to spend time, rather than somewhere designed primarily to move you towards a purchase. The name Qingdi itself establishes that intention: Qing references the weathered blue-green bricks of the surrounding architecture, while Di suggests a private residence or place for receiving guests. This is a subtle but important shift in the language of sports retail.
Rather than recreating a tennis court or surrounding visitors with the usual visual vocabulary of performance, Wilson creates something closer to an urban living room, where the sport becomes part of a wider cultural and social experience. The store is not simply selling the equipment needed to play tennis. It is exploring what it means to live with tennis as part of your identity.
“The most interesting sports stores are no longer just about how people perform. They are about how sport fits into the rest of their lives.”
Three Histories, One Physical Experience
One of the strongest aspects of Qingdi is how the concept connects Wilson's own heritage with the cultural identity of its location. There are three narratives running through the space: Shanghai's relationship with tennis, Wilson's history of sporting innovation and the architectural heritage of Xintiandi. Each could easily become a separate exhibition or decorative reference, but the design attempts to connect them through materials, objects and spatial details. Shanghai has a longstanding relationship with tennis, making the city's sporting history a meaningful starting point rather than an arbitrary local theme. Vintage wooden rackets and classic Wilson models become part of a carefully considered display, allowing visitors to see how the equipment and the sport itself have evolved. The building contributes another layer. Original blue brick flooring, steps, railings and wood carvings are preserved, while dark timber, distressed metal, beige stone and textured finishes create a sense of continuity between old and new. Even the design language takes inspiration from tennis without relying on literal court graphics, translating the geometry of rackets, the trajectory of a ball and the tension of strings into curves, furniture structures and display rhythms. This is where the concept offers a useful lesson in localisation. Too often, global brands interpret local relevance through a recognisable landmark, colour palette or superficial cultural reference. Qingdi takes a more integrated approach, allowing the existing architecture and the city's sporting history to influence how the brand is physically experienced. Local relevance becomes much more convincing when it shapes the experience itself, rather than simply decorating it.
