“We are dedicated to building a direct connection with the artist community in China”: Fender to open Shanghai Artist Showroom in its latest high-profile move in overseas guitar markets

Fender has announced it will be opening an Artist Showroom in Shanghai next year, as the US firm continues to expand its physical presence and influence in Asia.

News of a potential Fender Showroom in Shanghai emerged earlier this month, when Yicai Global reported the company’s President of APAC, Edward Cole, had announced its upcoming move in a then-unquoted interview.

Now, in an exclusive quote supplied to Guitar World, Cole has indeed confirmed plans for a new Fender Artist Showroom in one of the world’s leading hubs for finance, manufacturing and tourism.

“For nearly 80 years, it has always been Fender’s mission to equip artists with ‘wings to fly’ as Leo Fender always said. We are dedicated to building a direct connection with the artist community in China to further that mission,” Cole tells Guitar World.

“In 2025, we will open a dedicated artist showroom named ‘The Fender Backstage’ in Shanghai, to support our Chinese artists as they continue on their musical journey and to tap into the incredible energy and excitement exploding out of the China music scene.”

Notably, ‘The Fender Backstage’ is not the firm’s only high-profile operation to take place in the Asian guitar market in recent years. In July 2023, Fender ushered in a new chapter of its history by opening its flagship Tokyo store in Harajuku.

The four-floor, state-of-the-art store offers test spaces for gear, and stocks a huge selection of instruments from across Fender’s ranges, from affordable Squiers all the way to Custom Shop Masterbuilt electric guitars.

That all said, it’s worth noting the upcoming ‘Fender Backstage’ in Shanghai has been officially badged as an ‘Artist Showroom’, rather than a ‘flagship store’, which means it will serve a different purpose to the Tokyo operation.

Instead, it will likely operate in the same way as Fender’s London Artist Showroom, which only opened in 2022. Situated in Covent Garden, that particular building is seen as a hub for Fender artists, who can use the space to test gear, use Fender resources, collaborate with the team and more.

Fender has been placing new strategic importance on its overseas operations over the past three years – a decision that Fender CEO Andy Mooney discussed with Guitar World at the time of the Tokyo store’s opening in 2023.

“The reason we’re doing that primarily is because Tokyo has become one of the major tourist destinations in the world, particularly for tourists coming out of mainland China,” Mooney explained.

“And in Southeast Asia in particular, you’re almost not a legitimate brand or a high-status brand if you don’t have your own branded store, so this truly is a flagship that I believe will prove the economic model works.

“The Tokyo store perhaps will be used as a model to create franchise retail throughout Southeast Asia.”

In other industry-related Fender news, earlier this year the company announced its first-ever Certified Pre-Owned program on Reverb.