Time-honored brands in Shanghai are vying for the attention of younger consumers with all kinds of creative ideas as they pursue new business successes.

Known as "laozihao" in Chinese, time-honored brands are coveted titles given by the government to brands with a long history.

Shanghai is now home to 180 "China Time-Honored Brands" and 104 local time-honored brands. Most of them are evolving with time to attract young people.

With coffee served at the bar counter, and the latest eyeglasses placed on the rotating conveyor belt, an optical shop on Huaihai Road of downtown Shanghai has lured customers in recent weeks with its innovative designs.

"You can drink coffee while trying on glasses. It's so creative. We didn't notice some of the styles in the show window. But if you drink coffee here, you are more likely to buy one as they rotate around you," said a Shanghai resident who visited the shop.

This shop uses almost half of its space to sell crafted coffee products that appeal to young customers.

"Coffee is consumed at a high frequency, while glasses at a relatively low frequency. Then we use the former to drive the sales of the latter. As a result, our customer flow has nearly doubled," said Jin Shaochun, sales manager of the optical shop.

A honey company is also innovating its products to find its way out in the highly competitive market. By packaging honey into spoons, the brand has enjoyed great success among young consumers who prefer instant foods.

"Before 2015, our customers were mainly people aged above 50, which accounted for 70 percent of the total. Now customers aged between 20 and 40 make up the lion's share," said Li Haibin, general manager of the company.

Co-branding with influential Intellectual Property (IP), "limited edition," exclusive releases a dazzling array of creative marketing strategies are bring these time-honored brands closer to young consumers.

"Laozihao features good quality, long history and customer loyalty. They can display even stronger vitality if young people are passionate about their products and pass them down," said Zhou Yuanzhu, director of the Shanghai Institute of Corporate Culture and Brand Research.