Sun Hung Kai's late-night iAPM mall sets new benchmark in Shanghai
Developer hopes the iAPM mall, a big draw for its late-night shopping, can bring in rents of 600m yuan a year from its high-end retailers
The opening of the iAPM mall on Shanghai's busiest shopping strip has stolen the limelight in the mainland's retail industry, with its late-night offering set to challenge rival retailers dependent on traditional operating hours.
The mall on Huaihai Zhong Road stays open until midnight and has already attracted large crowds since its soft launch in August, even though new supply of retail spaces has hit a 10-year high in Shanghai.
"After five months of operation, we still have long queues outside restaurants after 9pm, and in one incident a late shopper spent more than 100,000 yuan in one retail outlet after 10pm," said Maureen Fung Sau-yim, the general manager of Sun Hung Kai Properties' leasing department.
"We have set a new trend for late-night shopping in the city." Most other shopping malls in Shanghai are open until 9pm or 10pm.
Fung believes more than 36 million shoppers will visit the five-level upmarket mall and spend 4 billion yuan (HK$5.1 billion) in its first year of operation. An estimated 300,000 visitors attended the new year's eve countdown at the mall.
The mall was named after the company's APM development in Kwun Tong, which opened for business in 2005. It is located on top of the South Shaanxi Road metro station.
Fung said all tenancy agreements had a provision requiring shops to remain open until 11pm, while 30 restaurants and a cinema will operate until midnight. Some outlets will remain open until 2am.
The complex features nine duplex stores, which were designed to house international brands such as Prada, Mui Mui, Gucci and Valentino, and has a 220-metre-long shopping façade on Huaihai Zhong Road that is a rare sight in the Puxi area.
Sixty per cent of its 238 tenants are international brands. Hong Kong brands account for 30 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent are local retailers.
Gucci Café is one of the international tenants which has made its debut in China. It has already indicated it would like to extend its opening hours from midnight to 2am, said Fung.
Fung expects the mall will generate rental income of 600 million yuan per year, based on rental charges of around 60 yuan per square metre per day. That would be 28 per cent higher than the average of 46.80 yuan per square metre per day for first-floor shopping mall rents in prime areas, according to property consultancy Savills.
"Leveraging on eight years' experience gained from the operation of APM in Kwun Tong, we are one of a handful of malls that manage to achieve the same turnover rents from tenants located from ground level to level eight," said Fung.
iAPM mall is part of the retail-office-residential Shanghai ICC project. The development includes two office towers with a total gross floor area of 1.3 million sq ft, as well as 200,000 sq ft of luxury apartments for lease.
