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 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 office 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.