Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
Department stores account for some 38 percent of apparel sales in major Chinese markets today, making them a major competitor to malls. stores. "Shanghai is quickly eclipsing Hong Kong," said Corbett Wall, who heads CW Associates, a Shanghai-based firm that helps developers and retail- ers expand in China. "There must be at least a half dozen large malls com- ing online this year and next year, and that's in a city with 80-plus shopping malls and department stores." Most of Shanghai's major malls and department stores are clustered in the prime market — really four submar- kets in and around the central busi- ness district. Nanjing Road boasts the luxury-oriented Plaza 66 as well as Citic Square, City Plaza, Westgate Mall and a host of department stores. Just to the south of Nanjing is Huai Hai Road, a shopping and entertainment strip that is home to Central Plaza, Hong Kong Plaza, Maison Mode, Nine Sea Parkson Plaza and Times Square Mall. A little further south of that is Xujiahui Road, which features some towering malls, among them Grand Gateway and Metro City. Huai Hai, Nanjing and Xujiahui roads are all in Puxi or west of the Huangpu River and run east-west. In Pudong, east of the river, high-end shopping is concentrated in the Lujia- zui business and financial district. The Lujiazui malls include IFC and the mas- sive, 13-level Super Brand Mall. The dominant retail formats in Shanghai may surprise first-time visitors. In a country where land is precious, developers maximize rentable space by building vertically: Several Shanghai malls rise 10 or more stories upward, and most have basement levels as well. China's massive department stores are another source of confusion for the uninitiated, operating more like malls with multiple retailers — includ- ing grocers — rather than as single stores with specialty departments. "The definitions don't really work the same as they do in the U.S.," said Wall. "That's why I kind of group malls and department stores into one group." Department stores account for some 38 percent of apparel sales in major Chinese cities today, Wall says. "That's much higher than mall sales, so they're definitely a competitor to malls," he said. "A department store here does major business." Department stores kicked off Shanghai's modern retail market in the 1990s, usually as a retail podium of 50,000 square meters (about 540,000 square feet) or less, topped by an office tower, says Eugene Tang, head of retail for Greater China at the Jones Lang La- Salle Beijing office. "Shopping centers with over 50,000 THE APPLE STORE AT SHANGHAI IFC DRAWS A CROWD. square meters can trace back to the early 2000s with projects like the Gate- way 66 and Super Brand Mall." A more subtle difference from Western formats is the brand mix in a Chinese mall, Tang says. There are fewer com- mon areas, particularly in older prop- erties, because limited competition gave developers little incentive to offer such amenities. "The successful malls in Shanghai tend to be more fashion- driven, with around 20 percent to 25 192 SCT / MAY 2012