Word: malle
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...everyone is dazzled. Rashid Taqui, editor of Dubai's Architecture Plus magazine, argues that the Burj Dubai's height and its location adjoining a busy shopping mall puts it at odds with its environment. "Burj Dubai is iconic, it's great, it does what it's trying to do," says Taqui, himself the architect of Dubai's minimalist Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa. "What it does for Dubai and how it evolves Dubai is a different question altogether. We're building a visionary city, but where's the vision in all this...
Shenzhen may be a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn't know. Like many tourists to this southern Chinese boomtown, I barely got past the first shopping mall after the border crossing, Luohu Commercial City, an emporium of counterfeit goods at bargain prices. On its six floors, you can purchase nearly anything: handbags, golf clubs, watches, couture dresses, even pharmaceuticals. But be sure to hit the ATM first...
...There's also scant attention to populating malls with the right mix of shops. Alan Liu, Shanghai-based managing director of Colliers International's North Asia practice, says most try to attract upscale brands. "Everyone thinks they need Prada, Gucci, Fendi in every project, even smaller ones," Liu says. "Well, the vast majority of customers won't spend their money on upmarket products like that." Indeed, at Beijing's Shin Kong Place recently, office worker Zhang Ting, 28, called the center's many high-end international brands "prohibitively expensive." While hundreds of local office workers like Zhang crowded the downtown...
...fact, there are success stories. Shanghai's Raffles City and the MIXc, a mall in the city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, have good locations and a profitable tenant mix, says Bryn Davies, executive director of retail services for CB Richard Ellis in Greater China. And, despite the glut of space, the mainland's retail sector remains in bull-market mode. Economists expect as the country's consumer culture continues to develop, demand will continue to increase. China today accounts for 5% of global consumption, but investment bank Credit Suisse predicts that number will rise...
...they have little choice but to hang on in hopes that customers will eventually discover the megamall. Xiao, the shoe salesman, is upbeat. "The store manager always tells us we should persevere, it will be getting better," he says. It's hard to imagine things getting worse. As a mall security guard dryly observes: "On weekdays we have so few cars, this must be the best parking lot in Beijing." Unfortunately for the builders, it's a parking lot attached to 6 million sq. ft. of unloved retail space...