A Farewell Is Being Staged In Huaihailu Road.

A farewell is being staged in Huaihailu Road.

This month, the Pacific department store, which has been operating in Huaihailu Road for nearly 20 years, is due to leave early next year due to the expiration of the lease.

"As a whole, monomers

Business is not optimistic, and this is no longer a secret. "

Once competitors left, Huaihai 755.

General manager Yang Min has some feelings.

Compared with the sentimental and nostalgic citizens of Shanghai, Yang Min seems to have been used to sending and sending the French parasol on both sides of the Huaihai Road.

Pacific department store will be the fourth old department stores that bid farewell to the commercial street in recent years. In 2010, Huating, the 15 year old shop in Yongxin, became the home appliance store in Wande city; in 2012, the first department store was replaced by BMW flagship store for 19 years; in 2013, the two hundred place in the 20 year store opened.

Global flagship store.

The Huaihai 755 shopping center, located between Huaihai middle road and Ruijin two road junction, was officially opened at the end of last year. It belongs to 600827.SH, the oldest state-owned commercial group in Shanghai.

Although it has been operating for more than half a year, many people in Shanghai can still remember the old name, Huaihai store, Dongfang commercial building.

Orient, Pacific, two hundred Yongxin, yishdan, Paris spring, Parkson...

These high-end department stores inlaid in various boutiques were once the pillars of Huaihailu Road business circle since the beginning of this century, but now they are facing the cold winter.

According to the statistics of China's general merchandise business association, the sales volume of 80 member enterprises increased by 9.3% in 2015, but the profit rate dropped by 19.53%.

Shanghai Huaihailu Road is just a microcosm of "closing shop tide". According to the statistics of the Internet of things, the number of Chinese department stores in 2015 reached 114.

"The homogenization of the brand is serious, and the sales promotion method that attracts consumption is relatively simple, that is, frequent discount.

Suppliers are now choosing a lot of channels. They used to choose brands from shopping malls, but now they choose brands by brands.

Yang Min acknowledged that the Huaihai store, an Eastern commercial building, was faced with such a passive situation: shopping malls could not attract consumers, merchants could not earn money, and good brands would not like to enter and form a vicious circle.

However, brands and consumers never give up the most important business district in Shanghai.

In the discourse system of Shanghai native people, Huaihailu Road generally refers to the Huaihai Zhong Road Commercial Street, which is about 5.5 kilometers from Tibet South Road to Huashan road.

A somewhat Shanghai centric view is that compared with the Nanjing Road, which is a tourist business, the Huaihailu Road Avenue, which runs across the Old French concession, can reflect the taste and tone of Shanghai's international commercial city.

Although the physical retail industry is under the pressure of slowing economic growth and the impact of e-commerce, at least for now, it seems a bit alarmist to say that Huaihailu Road is flourishing.

Consumers from all over the world are still bustling with international brands such as jewellery, watches, electronics, fashion, cosmetics, sports equipment and other industries, and frequently set up flagship stores in Shanghai and even in China.

What makes the old department stores on Huaihai Road nervous is those new neighbors: from the western section of iapm to the K11 in the East, these shopping centers, which have not been mentioned in the famous travel strategy "lonely planet Shanghai" published in 2013, have become the new favorite of consumers.

"The eastern commercial building has an operating area of only 17 thousand square meters, much smaller than the 100 thousand square meter shopping mall.

Huaihai store was not very good at that time, but its location was very good and its location advantage was huge.

Yang Min hints that the interface reporter is a suitable experimental field for Bailian at that time.

Bailian's idea is to build it into a boutique shopping mall with a main shop and a fashionable lifestyle.

"Which businessman does not want to open a facade on the streets of Huaihailu Road?" Zong Xinkuang, the founder of Seasaw coffee, asked with a smile.

Founded in 2011, Seasaw is an independent brand chain coffee shop. At the end of last year, it opened seventh stores in Shanghai on the first floor of Huaihai 755.

At that time, the cafe, which was already a small celebrity in Shanghai, began to expand its business, trying to enter more major business circles from less creative parks.

Lots of Huaihai 755 opened a hard price to refuse.

In addition to the relatively affordable rent and property support, what attracted Zong Xinkuang more is Huaihai's 755 brand portfolio.

On both sides of the Seasaw Huaihai store are two main stores of Huaihai 755: the flagship store from the US sports brand Under Armour and the flagship store of Muji from Japan.

According to media reports, in December 12, 2015, when more than 3000 square meters of Muji flagship store was open, customers queued up at the gate. The number of queues reached about 800 during peak hours, and customers even had to wait for more than 45 minutes to enter the shop.

On that day, Huaihai 755 had more than 40 thousand passengers.

Until the Spring Festival this year, queues still appear.

"The target consumers of Seesaw and Muji and Andrea are more consistent -- young, fashionable, and focus on quality of life.

When consumers are tired of shopping, they can sit in Seesaw for a cup of coffee.

Such brands can be aggregated together and mutually beneficial. "

Zong Xinkuang said.

Compared with Huaihai Road, iapm or K11, Huaihai 755 has a relatively small proportion of luxury goods.

In addition to the above merchants, there are many categories of tenants, such as restaurants, flower shops, fitness, daily groceries, etc.

Every month, the tenants will attend a regular meeting of Huaihai 755, and feedback on environment, service and background support.

"The exterior wall of the earliest Seesaw is open, but the wind in Shanghai is very windy in winter. Customers will be cold and uncomfortable.

I reflected the design defect to the shopping mall, and they were very active in helping us find a way.

Zong Xinkuang told the interface reporter, "later we added a glass wall, which did not affect the customer's view and the overall appearance of the shopping mall, but also solved the problems caused by the weather."

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On every Saturday afternoon, 755 of Huaihai businessmen will also conduct regular tours.

With the guidance of the shopping center Commissioner, consumers tour like museums or galleries to understand the culture and history behind the brand, as well as the unique design concept of the store in Huaihai 755.

"This panoramic service is the first creation of Huaihai 755, which has not been in the domestic industry before."

Yang Min said, "branding is naturally willing to have an opportunity to communicate with consumers deeply, so that consumers can have more understanding of themselves, and their participation is very positive."

A more appealing brand combination for young people is an instant change in the structure of the old department store.

Today, 755 of the main customers are young consumers, white collar workers and even foreign tourists, more than 1/4 are new customers, and the volume of passenger traffic is more than double that of the Eastern Commercial Building of the year.

The rental revenue on the books rose by nearly 60% compared with the gross profit margin of the shopping mall in the same period of the same period in 2014, exceeding the expected level of the project.

Investment is only the first step.

Compared to the upgrading of hardware, Yang Min is more concerned about the pformation of management consciousness.

"When we do department stores, we are concerned about commodities, and sell products through environment, display and promotion.

But the management concept of shopping centers is totally different.

Yang Min explained, "sales are now achieved through tenants. What we need to do is create conditions for tenants and attract consumers with good experience."

For Bailian, it is no easy decision to give up the brand of "Oriental commercial building" which has a great status in the eyes of Shanghai citizens.

But after the upgrading of the format, the brand new Huaihai 755 brand seems to come true. It not only means the pformation of positioning and business philosophy, but also marks a cutting of the old label of the east commercial building in the past.

"Etiquette is in the East". Yu Lu, a post-80s Shanghai woman, still remembers the young advertisement of the Oriental commercial building.

"Oriental Shopping Center used to feel that it was a place to buy gifts at festivals, and customers were mainly middle-aged mothers.

Now Huaihai 755 has become younger and younger in brand and environment. It is a very good place to be seen in Shanghai.

Yu Lu worked in the film industry for many years. He wrote poems and sang folk songs. He also started a series of lectures on art and art.

She is not only the kind of consumer that Huaihai will like 755, but also the "content supplier" of this shopping center. Since May this year, she has organized five lectures on Huaihai 755 "aesthetic training camp", including topics such as poetry, travel and design.

The "aesthetic training camp" is a offline activity held by Huaihai 755.

Yang Min said that the purpose of such activities is to enhance the ability of passenger flow introduction.

"Traditional commercial property is difficult to form distinct personality characteristics, consumers will not actively spread and pursue.

Instead of pushing them to discount sales information, it is better to do something that is consistent with consumers' aesthetic values and values, so that they will actively spread.

Yu Lu said that the current "aesthetic training camp" maintained at around two weeks.

She is responsible for inviting guests to do the content. Huaihai 755 arranges the publicity of social networking sites, posters, WeChat and other social networks, and promises to continue to use the "art as sound long" brand.

In the latest activity, the guest invited by Yu Lu was the famous "media center" from the media.

In addition to the "aesthetic training camp", Yang Min also tried to integrate various resources for cooperative marketing, including tenant's brand resources and cross-border Internet push activities.

"Muji" held a fashion show at flagship store this year. Fans signed up through internet interaction. Shiseido makeup artists helped fans make free makeup on the spot.

Many fans came in from abroad. "

In addition, technology start-ups, including oxygen underwear and particle fanatics, have held activities in Huaihai 755.

"We should not only let consumers like Muji, Seesaw and Andrea, but also let them like Huaihai 755."

Huaihai 755 is a revival rather than a resurrection.

"Upgrading is the direction of the industry as a whole.

On the service experience, there are more possibilities on line than online, and there is still much room for innovation in traditional retail industry.

Yang Min said that the parent company Bailian is also evaluating its other commercial properties and formulating its own planning according to the specific circumstances.