THE first shopping arcade in China to be exclusively leased to Hongkong retailers opened in Shanghai last Sunday.
Manhattan Plaza is situated on Nanjing Dong Lu, the busiest street in Shanghai, and it has a daily pedestrian flow of two million people, including many visitors from other parts of China.
Despite rentals for shops ranging between $100 and $250 per square feet, which are the most expensive in Shanghai, big retailers such as Esprit, Bennetton and Bigi jumped at the opportunity to open a shop in this rapidly growing market.
Nanjing Dong Lu is one of Shanghai's traditional shopping and commercial districts. Two of the city's biggest department complexes, the Number One Department Store and Hwa Luen Department Store, are located on this street, while the newly opened Sincere Department Store is situated opposite Manhattan Plaza, and Isetan will open a store there later this year.
Thus, Jones Lang Wootton, its sole marketing and leasing agent, determined that Manhattan Plaza should be developed as a special high class shopping arcade, totally different from the traditional Shanghai department stores.
''To achieve this aim, the developer, Asia Commercial Investments and Development Co, has used architectural designs and materials of the standard used in high class Hongkong shopping arcades, and we have chosen a trade mix and quality of tenants associated with such arcades,'' said JLW'S director, Mr Peter Lee.