SPURRED by the influx of leading foreign retailers, China's largest department store is to expand dramatically in the next three years in a bid to maintain its top position in the retail sector.
Shanghai No 1 Department Store - the country's largest store in terms of sales turnover - has set aside up to 2.18 billion yuan (about HK$1.96 billion) for three major ventures to strengthen its retail stranglehold.
Apart from the much-publicised 577 million yuan tie-up with Japan's Yaohan group to build a massive department store in Pudong, Shanghai No 1 has acquired a 653,000-square-foot complex near its headquarters in Nanjing Road East, its largest investment since 1949, which will soak up a total of one billion yuan.
The third venture is a commercial complex in Huxi, in the western part of the city, which will cost between 500 and 600 million yuan to set up.
'The scale of the investment is the largest since our establishment and is intended to cover the new shopping districts sprouting up in Shanghai,' said Wu Zhenglin, general manager.
He said the company, listed on the Shanghai stock market two years ago, essentially aimed to extend its reach from the east to the west of China's premier financial centre.