Large retail center planned near Shanghai
By Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, October 5, 2009
Xinbang, China — A developer plans to build a home furnishings retail center with a twist in this city near Shanghai, offering high-end global brands and design services.
The 500,000-square-foot project, expected to open in September 2010, also will include a hotel and restaurants for consumers who want to make a day or a weekend out of a shopping trip for their homes.
Ausen Real Estate Development Co. (Shanghai) Ltd. said it will invest 150 million yuan (about $22 million) in the Ausen World Brand Home Furnishings Center. Company Chairman Hunter Zhang told Furniture/Today that the center will focus on furnishings that include American and European brands, which he said many Chinese like but do not understand well.
Xinbang is in the Songjiang District of Shanghai, less than an hour's drive southwest of the city's downtown.
The Ausen project will include three parts:
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A home furnishings mall of nearly 200,000 square feet will offer furniture and other furnishings.
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A Premium Furnishings Center of about 220,000 square feet will offer such home products as fixtures and cabinets, like a Home Depot or Lowe's might do in the United States.
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Hotel, catering and office space will take up just under 90,000 square feet.
Another unusual feature for a Chinese retail center will be the presence of on-site interior designers, who can help consumers with home design and product choices.
In a statement, Ausen said it intends to be a door to the Chinese market for Western brands. It will offer help with operating in the country, including support of import entry, logistics and storage.
Zhang said he believes the center will offer a "family feel" that is missing from most Chinese retail spaces, with a rewarding consumer experience for shoppers and their children. An Australian company will design the "eco-garden" look of the complex, including outdoor leisure areas.
Zhang added that while global luxury goods sales have declined in the economic downturn, the China market is holding steady as the brand awareness and consuming power of the country's middle and upper-income classes continue to grow.
The developers said the center "wishes to spread Western culture by launching premium European and American furniture," but have not yet announced any brands to be carried. Lectures on Western design trends will be held in the center's public areas, and furnishings brands are expected to launch products there periodically, officials said.
In addition, the Ausen center will create an e-business platform, which combined with the bricks-an-mortar stores will make the first shopping experience of its kind for furnishings in China, the developers said.
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