(CFP)
The shopping mall at Nanjing International Financial Center (IFC), the third high-end IFC development by Sun Hung Kai Properties after Hong Kong and Shanghai, opened for trial operation on January 3, reflecting the city’s booming consumer market.
Data from the city’s Department of Commerce shows that 20 new commercial properties will open in 2024, adding a total of commercial area of more than one million square meters.
Located atop Nanjing Metro Yuantong station in the Hexi CBD, the IFC complex includes a top-tier shopping mall, two first-class office towers and a boutique hotel. The grand mall houses about 168 top-notch brands, with about one-third debuting in Jiangsu’s capital city for the first time. Featuring art installations and venues for gathering, Nanjing IFC aims to create an exciting one-stop shopping, entertainment and leisure destination.
Notably, city’super, a Hong Kong-based retail chain, highlights its quality food choices at Nanjing IFC and also hosts its cafe ToGather, the first store of the brand on the Chinese mainland. Its opening also caters to the vibrant coffee culture in the city.
MixC Nanjing, a new retail-led development located in an area with a dense population in Qixia District, attracted about 500,000 shoppers and registered total retail sales of 60 million yuan within the first three days after its opening on December 15, 2023. The shopping centre is home to about 500 brands, including 170 food and beverage labels, providing a diversified shopping, leisure, dining and entertainment experience to the customers.
In Nanjing, there are more than 170 shopping centers and commercial complexes, each with a floor area of at least 10,000 square meters. Building exclusive characteristics and implementing differentiated operations are regarded as key to winning the competition.
Golden Eagle World, a large commercial complex, features a bookstore of 1,800 square meters, a Lumiere Pavilions movie theatre of 6,000 square meters and a stage area of nearly 1,000 square meters. It also hosts the Moutai Cultural Experience Center on the 50th floor, the Golden Eagle Museum of Art, and the Golden Eagle Science and Technology Hall, offering a multifunctional space with diversified experiences.
The Baijiahu business zone in Jiangning District, which has risen rapidly in recent years, achieved sales of 3.3 billion yuan in the first half of 2023, up 16.4% year-on-year, significantly higher than the city’s average growth of total retail sales of consumer goods for the same period, which was 8.9%.
Wang Meng, Head of Strategic Consulting at JLL Nanjing, said that Nanjing IFC, as part of the landmark of Sun Hung Kai Properties, will further enhance Nanjing's internationalization in terms of consumption and services. “Premier commercial complexes often indicate growth and development potential and help improve the confidence of domestic and foreign developers,” Wang added.
Nanjing is a key hub city in East China and a megacity in the Yangtze River Delta. It has a resident population of more than nine million, nearly one million university students, and attracts more than 100 million domestic and foreign tourists per year on average. Nanjing has also ranked among the top ten cities in the country in terms of total retail sales of consumer goods over the past 10 years.
JLL recently released the "International Consumption Center City Development Annual Report (2023)", which evaluated the country’s 29 cities. Among them, Nanjing led in the ranking of consumption resilience.
In addition, according to the city’s commercial development plan for 2021-2035, Nanjing plans to establish 34 business zones and streets with distinctive characteristics. Nanjing will also support development of commercial zones in tourism-centered areas and nightlife hubs while showcasing the city’s cultural heritage.
