In August 1850, two Scots, Thomas Ash Lane and Ninian Crawford, opened a shop in a makeshift bamboo structure on the waterfront of what is now Des Voeux Road. Since that time, Lane Crawford has occupied a number of prime retail sites along Des Voeux Road and Queen's Road Central; in the early 1900s it also had stores in Guangzhou and Shanghai in China, and Kobe and Tokyo in Japan. It has been a tailor, and outfitter, a draper, a provisions dealer, a wine and spirits merchant, an auctioneer of antiques, a baker, a restaurant and a bar.