Plaza353
In China's biggest cities the number of new shopping centers has been growing very fast recently. If in the local area department stores still are the main sales channels, in the big cities they struggle the competitive fashion malls that show their greater presence and attract lots of customers. In Shanghai there are a number of shopping centers such as SUPER BRAND MALL and Raffles City that are very popular among young customers. The foreign fast fashion giants are also present - starting with Inditex Group flagship chain store Zara and ending with other big stores like H&M, Uniqlo and Muji. Moreover, in 2010 GAP and FOREVER 21 are expected to come to the Shanghai market. Plaza 353,Channel One and plaza 818 opened in Shanghai in 2009 and soon will followed by a number of other big shopping centers. According to the plan in spring 2010 new shopping malls ifc mall and plaza 889 with a big store NOVO from Hong-Kong will be opened in Shanghai. Moreover, the launching of the new metro lines and extension of the existing lines that are timed to the opening of World Expo in May 2010 in Shanghai will lead to the opening of the new shopping centers at the new metro stations.
At the moment the total number of the shopping centers in Shanghai has grown up to 94 including those in the planning stage, 58 of them are newly-opened, the rest 36 will be opened during this and the next year. It is expected that the shopping center sales in 2009 will grow by 10% comparing to 2008, however, the growth rate will decrease by 17% comparing to 2008 due to the strong competitiveness among the shopping centers. For the foreign business enterprises that intend to retail directly it will be necessary to go through all the procedures concerning the value added tax in each city and it will probably take some time to receive the first approval.