But the energy level leap of this old business district has just begun, and the last Pacific department store entity in Shanghai to close | business district | Shanghai

"Countdown to 32 days, thank you for coming to an end." On the morning of July 31st, Shanghai Pacific Department Store Xuhui Branch, which is about to open for 30 years, issued an announcement. "Due to the expiration of the cooperation period with the joint venture this year, Shanghai Pacific Department Store Xuhui Branch will officially close and cease operations after the end of business on August 31st, 2023." At the same time, the mall has also launched promotional activities such as closing and clearing warehouses with strong discounts, and exchanging and deducting member points. ".

The closing ceremony of Pacific Department Store Xuhui marks the complete delisting of three former Pacific Department Stores in Shanghai. From December 1993 to August 2023, with nearly 30 years of operation, Pacific Department Store Xuhui Branch has witnessed the development and changes of the Xujiahui business district, as well as the ups and downs of physical retail in Shanghai and even China over the past 30 years.

The farewell of "Pacific" also sends a new signal for Xuhui to transform and upgrade the "Greater Xujiahui" region. At the recent "High quality Development in Shanghai" series of municipal government press conferences, Xuhui District has solicited the overall planning plan for the core area of Greater Xujiahui from the world. The plan is to accelerate the construction of Xujiahui Center and the overall transformation of Pacific Department Store and Shanghai 600 by optimizing five rail transit lines, aerial overpasses, and underground street crossing systems in the region, making transportation in the entire region more orderly, shopping more convenient, commercial districts more prosperous, and urban areas more vibrant.

On July 31, the Xuhui store of Pacific Department Store has put up a curtain call promotion advertisement. Photo by Shu Shu

There used to be three "Pacific" landmarks, each of which was a landmark

"The new Shanghai Pacific Department Store Co., Ltd. in the Xujiahui Business Center is officially open to the public from now on." According to the report of Jiefang Daily on December 19, 1993, at the beginning of the opening of the Pacific Department Store, it was jointly built by the Hong Kong Pacific Holding Company and the Xuhui District Commercial Construction Head Office of Taiping Ocean Construction Group, whose department store turnover was the highest in Taiwan, China's industry at that time. The total construction area of the shopping mall is nearly 30000 square meters, and it has introduced world-class hardware facilities. At that time, it was a luxury decoration, but 60% of the department store products sold were aimed at the general public. It is a representative of internationalization of goods, reasonable prices, and considerate services. It also provided services such as tailoring, mother and baby rooms, and door-to-door delivery that were still rare in Shanghai commercial venues at that time.

On December 19, 1993, Jiefang Daily published an advertisement for the opening of the Xuhui store of Pacific Department Store. Information picture

Pacific Department Store Xuhui Store Photo by Shu Shu

The mall has been open for less than a year. In 1994, a reporter from Liberation Daily learned during an interview with the then leaders of Xuhui District that the Xujiahui commercial district had already shown a gradient consumption structure at that time, with Dongfang Shopping Mall and Pacific Department Store representing high-end consumption, the Sixth Department Store mainly selling mid-range products, and Huilian Shopping Mall mainly focusing on selling affordable and high-quality goods, achieving a "combination of old and new" of mass operation. By 2005, among the top 20 department store retail rankings in Shanghai, Pacific Department Store Xuhui Branch had risen to fifth place, with the top four being First Eight Hundred Companions, New World City, Oriental Mall Xuhui Branch, and First Hundred Goods.

In addition to Xujiahui Pacific Department Store, there were also two Pacific Department Stores in Shanghai, located in the Huaihai Road commercial district and the Shanghai Railway Station area. The former opened in 1996 with Huaihai Parkson, witnessing the "golden age" of physical retail in the Huaihai Road commercial district; The latter entered the first phase of Kerry Night City in 1997 and became the leading department store in the new station area.

On September 16, 1993, Jiefang Daily published an investment advertisement for the Xuhui store of Pacific Department Store. Information picture

With the emergence of Internet e-commerce and new consumption models, including Pacific Department Store, a group of department stores familiar to Shanghai citizens have taken the curtain call or actively sought transformation and upgrading in recent years.

Xintiandi Plaza, which opened in May 2019, is located at the original site of Pacific Department Store on Huaihai Road. In February 2017, after the lease of "Huaitai" expired, the shopping mall closed down. The property owner, Ruian Group, took back the property and carried out a comprehensive upgrade of the original site. At the beginning of the opening of the newly unveiled Xintiandi Plaza, the proportion of the first stores reached 30%, including 16 first stores in Chinese Mainland and 11 first stores in Shanghai. The mall focuses on the style of women's social gathering place, and has also launched a new commercial retail brand "XINTIANDI Xintiandi". The brand new retail space has created a landmark carrier for the commercial drainage on the north side of Xintiandi.

Last August, news spread that Kerry Construction Group had launched a renovation and upgrade of the original site of the Pacific Department Store's Night City Store, creating a new functional and image boutique business space. Since the expiration of the lease for the Pacific Department Store's Night City Store in 2020, the movement of its original location has been closely monitored. This renovation will comprehensively rejuvenate the architectural form, introduce new underground commercial spaces, and plan a "one-stop" consumer business model that covers exquisite catering, cultural and creative industries, entertainment, and leisure shopping. The above ground part plans to introduce creative and new economy enterprises to create a multi-level green office space.

Witnessing the transformation of physical commerce, about to usher in a new leap

The earliest report on "Pacific Department Store" in the Liberation Daily was in April 1993. At that time, a number of commercial carriers including the under construction or completed Oriental Shopping Mall, 600, ZTE Department Store, Huilian Shopping Mall, Daqian World Food Forest, West Asia Hotel, Xujiahui Metro Mall, etc. also appeared in the report. The Xujiahui commercial area is also known as one of the iconic areas of Shanghai with "one style per year".

Xuhui District attached great importance to the utilization of foreign investment in the early 1990s. Most of the 24 hectares of land in the core area of Xujiahui commercial district were constructed in the form of leasing, including Pacific Department Store, Shanghai Industrial Building, Ganghui Square, Jiahui Square, Meiluo City, etc., through cooperation with foreign parties, hiring foreign experts to participate in management, and introducing advanced international operating mechanisms and management methods at that time. It also proposed to create commercial development visions such as Shanghai's "Shinjuku" and "Tsim Sha Tsui".

The Xujiahui business circle around 2000 was also a witness to the ups and downs of real business. From 1997 to 1999, Meiluo City and Ganghui Plaza opened one after another. In only five or six years, Xujiahui has rapidly developed from dozens of traditional shops in the past to a municipal business district in Shanghai. By 2010, with the upgrading of Shanghai's rail transit before and after the World Expo, Xujiahui Rail Exchange Station also opened the largest Christine Bakery flagship store in Shanghai at that time, with an annual rent of 12 million yuan.

It was precisely at this time that transformation began to accompany every step of the development of the Xujiahui commercial district. In the above ground space, the West Asia Hotel initiated demolition and renovation in 2013, becoming the first urban renewal project in Xujiahui to undergo transformation and upgrading. The newly completed T20 building on the original site sacrificed 5000 square meters of commercial area and connected to the planned Xujiahui corridor, laying a key foundation for the three-dimensional transportation organization construction of the Xujiahui commercial district in underground, ground, and air today.

After the completion of the second phase of Xujiahui air corridor, the business circle has a bird's eye view of Xuhui District

The construction of Xujiahui Aerial Corridor, launched in 2017, can be said to have been the dream of many business district builders and operators for many years. As of now, the completed and connected aerial corridors have connected key commercial buildings in the Xujiahui commercial district, including the Zhaojiabang Road Overpass, Huijin Department Store, Sixth Department Store, Meiluo City, T20 Building, Pacific Digital Phase II, Oriental Mall, and Ganghui Henglong Square, providing citizens and tourists with a rare "urban balcony" and a new type of walking space in the city center.

Xuhui has launched the construction of phases three, four, and five of the Xujiahui air corridor this year. With the further deepening of the urban renewal plan for Pacific Department Store and Sixth Department Store, the future air corridor will be connected to the completed two commercial carriers, forming a complete "golden ribbon" in the air of Xujiahui commercial district.

At the same time, the under construction Sun Hung Kai Shanghai ITC project has also reserved air corridor interfaces simultaneously. The first phase of the project, including two super high-rise buildings with heights of 370 meters and 220 meters respectively, will gradually enter the market around 2024. With the comprehensive completion and operation of the Sun Hung Kai Shanghai ITC project, which has a total construction area of nearly 1 million square meters, the spatial form, urban function, and industrial level of the "Great Xujiahui" area will usher in a new leap.