Hong Kong malls switch from targeting luxury buyers to feeding hungry shoppers
Great example is Pacific Place in the prime Admiralty district, which added 10 new food outlets in the second half of 2016, boosting the F&B footprint of the mall by 50 per cent at the time
The growth of online retail has caused a serious headache for shopping complexes in recent years. But there is one area where digital outlets cannot hope to compete: food and drink.
Because of this, shopping centres in Hong Kong have been allocating more space to meet the needs of hungry shoppers.
“At this time, F&B [food and beverage] is very important because it can drive customer flow. When there is customer flow, there are sales,” said Theresa Leung, general manager of Pacific Place, one of the city’s best known malls. “People like to come out for meals.”
F&B accounted for half of all new entrants into the market this year, a trend seen lasting at least throughout the year, according to global property services company CBRE.
Pacific Place, in Hong Kong’s prime Admiralty district neighbouring Central, added 10 new food outlets in the second half of 2016, boosting the F&B footprint of the mall by 50 per cent at the time.
