One of the main commercial streets of the Hongkou and Zhabei districts north of Suzhou Creek, Sichuan Road North has been a working-class commercial artery since the concession era and retains more of its pre-war character than the streets of the International Settlement to the south. The architecture is late 1920s and 1930s mixed-use commercial, with shops on the ground floor and residential above.
The street serves the population of northern Hongkou rather than tourist visitors, which makes it useful for understanding what everyday Shanghai shopping looked like before the current commercial transformation. The range of goods — food, hardware, clothing, household goods — is more varied and practical than the specialized retail of the tourist districts.