Our new Beijing flagship store has just opened at Europlaza, in the Shunyi district. We are on the ground floor, between Coldstone ice cream and Comptoire de France cafe (two of my favorite treats in Beijing that had absolutely NOTHING to do with my choosing this spot, probably)
Celebrations, yes, but from a personal standpoint it's more about heaving a big sigh of relief. This last year has been even crazier than normal in Beijing (and it does get very crazy here for retailers).
As some will remember we had a nice store in Danshui town in Shunhuang road, a beautiful courtyard development that unfortunately stood in the way of "progress" in the area just south of the river. It was demolished a few months back, along with the entire south side of the street (though some buildings are still standing and things seem to have ground to a halt for the time being). In typical Beijing fashion the stores along that side of the road got 40 days notice from the local government to clear out. We managed to keep the business running, with the help of Ms Wang of the Dynasty furniture store directly opposite where Danshui used to be, who rented some space in her store to us at short notice. Credit also to my staff and to our decorations company who renovated a space in Dynasty and fitted carpet rails, lighting etc in the space of a week. Looking back I am still not sure how we did it.
The Dynasty store remains open, and we have our collection of antique rugs (especially Khotan and Kirgiz rugs) and also Afghan rugs and kilims there. I am not sure what the fate of the north side of Shunhuang road will be: there are rumors that it will be redeveloped this year too but the timing is uncertain. Now that we have the Europlaza store open I am less "zhao ji" about it.
I have never been a "mall kind of guy", but I've seen the writing on the wall as regards some of the more "characterful" projects hereabouts that I would otherwise be attracted to. Beijing is expanding, and what used to be countryside is fast becoming "downtown". There are some lovely courtyard developments and individual projects around north Beijing, but many will eventually fall prey to compulsory purchase and redevelopment just as we did. Landlords get some compensation as long as they have a structure built on the land they have leased (which explains some of the mysterious dash to construct apparently empty buildings on many sites in north Beijing), but businesses that rent these spaces get nothing.
Hence the choice of a mall this time. Europlaza is big and solid looking, has several floors so I am hoping it won't be demolished any time soon :-)
I am pleased with how the new store has turned out (once again, credit due to staff and contractors for a job well done). Europlaza is well-maintained space in a good central location (at least for Shunyi area residents, a bit of a trek for those coming from downtown I admit), with good parking and space to let the kids roam safely. There are still some units that are not let on the upper floors, but the supermarket is open in the basement and proving popular.
We continue to focus on costs, which is why I'd love a large downtown store but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. Beautiful handmade carpets are not cheap, but we don't want them to cost more than they need to, and don't want to pay downtown rents that would make them unaffordable. So we will stick with locations some way from town, and hope that downtown residents will make the trip to see our store and buy a carpet at a reasonable price ... and also take advantage of designs and customization service that you can't find anywhere else.
There are contact details, maps and so on for our Beijing stores on our website.
Our air purifier store (Torana Clean Air Center), selling Blueair air filters, is also in the same location.
Celebrations, yes, but from a personal standpoint it's more about heaving a big sigh of relief. This last year has been even crazier than normal in Beijing (and it does get very crazy here for retailers).
As some will remember we had a nice store in Danshui town in Shunhuang road, a beautiful courtyard development that unfortunately stood in the way of "progress" in the area just south of the river. It was demolished a few months back, along with the entire south side of the street (though some buildings are still standing and things seem to have ground to a halt for the time being). In typical Beijing fashion the stores along that side of the road got 40 days notice from the local government to clear out. We managed to keep the business running, with the help of Ms Wang of the Dynasty furniture store directly opposite where Danshui used to be, who rented some space in her store to us at short notice. Credit also to my staff and to our decorations company who renovated a space in Dynasty and fitted carpet rails, lighting etc in the space of a week. Looking back I am still not sure how we did it.
The Dynasty store remains open, and we have our collection of antique rugs (especially Khotan and Kirgiz rugs) and also Afghan rugs and kilims there. I am not sure what the fate of the north side of Shunhuang road will be: there are rumors that it will be redeveloped this year too but the timing is uncertain. Now that we have the Europlaza store open I am less "zhao ji" about it.
I have never been a "mall kind of guy", but I've seen the writing on the wall as regards some of the more "characterful" projects hereabouts that I would otherwise be attracted to. Beijing is expanding, and what used to be countryside is fast becoming "downtown". There are some lovely courtyard developments and individual projects around north Beijing, but many will eventually fall prey to compulsory purchase and redevelopment just as we did. Landlords get some compensation as long as they have a structure built on the land they have leased (which explains some of the mysterious dash to construct apparently empty buildings on many sites in north Beijing), but businesses that rent these spaces get nothing.
Hence the choice of a mall this time. Europlaza is big and solid looking, has several floors so I am hoping it won't be demolished any time soon :-)
I am pleased with how the new store has turned out (once again, credit due to staff and contractors for a job well done). Europlaza is well-maintained space in a good central location (at least for Shunyi area residents, a bit of a trek for those coming from downtown I admit), with good parking and space to let the kids roam safely. There are still some units that are not let on the upper floors, but the supermarket is open in the basement and proving popular.
We continue to focus on costs, which is why I'd love a large downtown store but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. Beautiful handmade carpets are not cheap, but we don't want them to cost more than they need to, and don't want to pay downtown rents that would make them unaffordable. So we will stick with locations some way from town, and hope that downtown residents will make the trip to see our store and buy a carpet at a reasonable price ... and also take advantage of designs and customization service that you can't find anywhere else.
There are contact details, maps and so on for our Beijing stores on our website.
Our air purifier store (Torana Clean Air Center), selling Blueair air filters, is also in the same location.
