Beijing is gaining new fame as a shoppers' paradise, with numerous malls sprouting up across the city and more in the pipeline in the run-up to the Olympic Games. It is said that the number of malls will reach its peak by 2008, and the sector is now entering a new period of development.
The Place
A 20-minute ride from the World Trade Center, the central business district's landmark building, is the recently opened 80,000-square-meter mall, The Place (pictured right). Beijing's swish set saunters through boutiques like Spanish brand Zara, the company's first store in the city. Tired shoppers can then rest their feet at the bookstore, movie theater or Starbucks.
Adding to The Place's luster is a 250-meter-long, 30-meter-wide skyscreen, the biggest LED screen in Asia, said to have cost some 250 million yuan. The screen is suspended six stories high (80 feet) above a plaza between two new retail centers. The concept was designed by Jeremy Railton, president of Entertainment Design Corporation, who was the original designer of the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, the world's largest LED screen.
The place offers medium-and-high income white collar workers in Beijing a sensual shopping experience where they can find the coolest 6-star night club, specialty cuisine, wine and bar, food market, lifestyle home products, spa, food and international fashion flagship stores all under one roof. International brands, such as Zara, SJ SJ, Miss Sixty, MAC, Puma and Adidas Heritage, have already opened there.
The Place also boasts a big parking lot there are 1,300 car spaces in the basement of the shopping center.
Ginza Mall
If you have enough money and are a loyal follower of international brands, the newly opened Ginza Mall (pictured above) is a must-visit place.
Aimed at stylish young people, the 31,000-square-meter mall gathers a lot of top brands such as City Chain watch, clothing brands Quiksilver, Bunka, I.S.O, Liliana, Very, Japanese restaurant Chitose, luxury beauty salon Modern Beauty and organic food store Green Dot Dot.
The five-storey mall is also praised for its various cuisines. Every floor has a corner for shoppers to rest and taste delicious food. The two underground floors mainly gather local snack stores, while on the second and third floor, there are fine places like Chitose Japanese cooking and Pacific coffee for business dinners and friends dining together.
Another advantage for the mall is its convenient location. It is directly connected to the Dongzhimen subway station, one of the most prosperous areas on the Second Ring Road, and linked the interchange of Beijing Metro Line 2 and Line 13. Ginza Mall will also be connected to the Airport Rail Line, expected to commence service in 2008.
D Park fashion club
Driving along the airport speedway, passing the Dashanzi exit and going through the 1,000-meter-long "798 Art Corridor" in Jiuxianqiao Lu, you could see two red buildings around two high chimneys the landmark of the new fashion hub D Park (pictured top and right).
Unlike the crowded department stores, D Park is more suitable for wandering and enjoying the arty atmosphere.
Built in an old electrical factory one of important projects in "China's First Five Years Plan" supported by the former East Germany, this place features a unique blend of the old and new. Here stands huge gas tanks, big blast furnaces and boilers, wide factory sets, and rusty transmission pipelines, have been turned into the fashionable dcor for the new trend center.
Since opening last week, D Park (D for design) has attracted quite a few esteemed fashion designers, including Ayou, Zeng Fengfei, Liu Wei, Wu Xuewei and Wu Xuekai, as well as Galaxy Model Management and the Training center of China Fashion Association.
The masters turn their own studios into special stages to showcase their originality and imagination. White cotton jelly fish swim in the air of Ayou studio, pink staircase and big green plants turn Liu Wei's studio a romantic dating place for lovers, while in Zeng Fengfei's studio, big scrolls of Chinese calligraphy occupy four walls.
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Photo by Liu Zhongqiu
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Most studios focus on haute couture or high-end ready-made wear. For instance, Liu Wei, designer of Rosew, told reporters that an ordered suit usually cost about 4,000 yuan while Zeng Fengfei, who is famed for tailoring Chinese classic suits, said the ready-made in his studio was above 1,000 yuan.
According to Wang Qing, president of China Fashion Association, D Park is a fashion creation park combining design, product development, and exhibition displays.
"It is one part of the 'Fashion In Beijing' plan proposed by Beijing municipal government, " said Wang. "We visited and talked with more than 10 unused factories before locating the fashion hub in the old factory here last summer. "
Now there are about 35 designers, model agencies and exhibition design companies to build their studios in D Park, according to Wang.
(China Daily 03/28/2007 page17)
