Beijing’s Wangfujing shopping street was China’s most expensive street, with rental values soaring by 4.3 percent to $436 per square feet, according to flagship retail research report Main Streets Across the World published recently by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. The report analyzed retail property rental performance across the global in the twelve months to June 2013.
Wangfujing ranked the tenth most expensive retail location in Asia Pacific, becoming the most costliest retail location in mainland China. Hong Kong’a Causeway Bay remains the world’s most expensive retail location for the second year in a row. Hong Kong’s Central and Tsim Sha Tsui ranked second and third respectively in Asia Pacific. “Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay will further bolster its position once luxury goods sales return to near peak levels.” said Michele Woo, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield in Hong Kong.
While the overall retail rents in mainland China increase 6.8 percent amid the slower growth in the luxury sector driven by government’s curb on graft and conspicuous consumption, the country remains attractive to a diverse range of brands, which chose to continue entering and expanding in the world’s most popular and dynamic market. In Beijing, Dior opened its first Chinese jewelery store, Louis Vuitton opened an accessories boutique, Lange & Söhne launched their first asian concept store, while carrera Y carrera inaugurated its first flagship store.
As an old culture street and one of Beijing’s most famous shopping area, Wangfujing is very popular for both tourists and local residents. Located in the Dongcheng District of Beijing, Wangfujing Street is now home to numerous world well-known luxury brands like Louis Vuitton besides around 280 time-honored brands of Beijing. The arrival of brands such as Apple and Forever 21 further fuelled the rental values in the hottest retail location of mainland China, according to the report.
From January to August, the retail sales of 30 key enterprises located in the Wangfujing area achieved a total of 6.04 billion yuan ($991.32 million), with six major shopping malls contributing 5.525 billion yuan ($906.79 million), accounting for 86.21 percent of the overall sales, according to data released by Wangfujing Area Construction & Management Office. The six malls are Oriental Plaza, Beijing Department Store, Beijing apm, Intime Lotte, Dong’an, and Gongmei Plaza.
Several new projects are on-going in the Wangfujing area, including Wangfujing International Brand Center (WIBC) which is projected to start construction in July next year. WIBC is set to be China’s most high-end shopping mall which will gather flagship stores of top international luxury brands, said Peng Yaojia, CEO of Hongkong Land, parent company of WIBC. This could further boost the rental growth of the Wangfujing area.
She Shi 奢仕 