Does the middle section of Huaihai Road not occupy the "popularity rule"? This shopping mall has made this section of the road "red" | Shanghai Vitality Mall ⑧ TX | Center | Popularity

Huaihai Road Business District is connected with Xintiandi in the east and Huanmao Shopping Center in the west, forming a commercial space for shopping, shopping and touring. The middle section of Huaihai Road, which used to be from Chongqing South Road to Ruijin Second Road, was relatively desolate. Along the street, there are mainly a group of time-honored restaurants such as Guangming Estate, Elderly and others, and the streets are mostly filled with elderly consumers. In 2019, the "TX Huaihai | Youth Power Center" opened in the middle section of Huaihai Middle Road, adjacent to Chengdu South Road. As the brand name of the shopping center, TX Huaihai targets young customers and injects a fresh vitality into Huaihai Middle Road.

Over the past three years since its opening, TX Huaihai has attracted young people to return to Huaihai Middle Road. "Our consumers are generally between the ages of 28 and 35, with high stickiness. They shop once a month and participate in mall and brand activities once a week," the relevant person in charge of TX Huaihai told reporters.

Nowadays, in the middle section of Huaihai Middle Road, there are always two queues: one is the middle-aged and elderly consumer queue at the entrance of Guangming Estate, and the other is the uniform young consumer queue in front of TX Huaihai Gate. Since last year, the average daily passenger flow of TX Huaihai has reached 20000 to 25000 people. During the May Day holiday this year, the average daily passenger flow was nearly 50000 people, making it one of the shopping centers with the most concentrated pedestrian flow on the entire Huaihai Middle Road. According to data from the Huangpu District Commission of Commerce, TX Huaihai directly drives the daily average passenger flow of the middle section of Huaihai Middle Road to exceed 100000 people. The youthful commercial atmosphere in the middle section has become increasingly strong, and in recent years, some fashion brands have settled on the main street and the supporting roads behind them. Some brands have designated to rent shops closer to TX Huaihai, and a rich and vibrant middle section block is slowly forming.

Due to limited natural conditions, there was a lack of advantage in the middle section

What are the main factors that affect the popularity of a modern commercial district? Professor Chao Gangling from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics summarized the convenience of modern transportation, the density of business people, and the differences in business formats.

At one point, these advantages were not present in the middle section of Huaihai Middle Road. The surrounding land was precious, with insufficient parking spaces and inconvenient public transportation. At that time, Line 13 was not open, and it was about a kilometer walk from the nearest subway line 10. The business crowd is mainly concentrated on the east and west ends. The surrounding businesses mainly consist of time-honored restaurants and social restaurants, attracting a very narrow customer base.

"There are hardly any young people on the road." In the summer of 2019, the Guotai Cinema on Huaihai Middle Road once tried to play movies at midnight, which was treated as a novelty by consumers. Ms. Zhao, a white-collar worker, went to the Guotai Cinema to watch a night movie. "At that time, I realized that I hadn't been on this section of the road for five or six years. After 20:00 at night, the road began to slump, and many shops were preparing to close. After 23:00, only the street lights were flashing, and it was difficult to get a taxi."

The middle section of Huaihai Middle Road urgently needs a node to support consumption and popularity. The current location of TX Huaihai is 523 Huaihai Middle Road, which is the middle section node.

523 Huaihai Middle Road has a long history. In 1993, Huating Yishidan was born at 523 Huaihai Middle Road. The reason for saying "take off" was because there were not many high-end shopping places in Shanghai at that time. You should know that Meilong Town Square, the earliest opened square in Meitai Hengzhong, the "Golden Triangle" on Nanjing West Road, only opened after 1997. Back then, being able to hold a shopping bag with the words "Isetan" was something that fashionable Shanghai girls were worth showing off.

Old photo of Huating Isetan

In 2008, Huating Isetan left Huaihai Road citing the expiration of his lease. After Isetan left, major stores such as Best Buy and Wanda City successively entered, but their operations were dismal due to the impact of e-commerce and competition from larger and better located shopping malls in the surrounding area.

The best location, the most dismal years, waiting for an opportunity for a magnificent turn at 523 Huaihai Middle Road.

"Youthfulness" is engraved into the brand of shopping centers

In 2019, Bailian TX Huaihai took over the update of 523 Huaihai Middle Road.

After conducting investigations and research, they boldly made plans. "523 Huaihai Middle Road has inconvenient transportation and is difficult to attract customers who drive, making it difficult to make luxury goods. Due to the limitations of the renovation of the old building on the original site, catering facilities cannot be fully provided, nor can it attract family customers. We will simply leverage our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, not build a large and comprehensive shopping center, not targeting all age consumers, but targeting young consumers," said Xu Wenjun, Assistant General Manager of Bailian TX Huaihai.

At that time, the global retail market was showing signs of approaching young consumers.

Luxury brands that have always been aloof have emerged with street style designs that cater to the fashion aesthetic of young people; Some established international manufacturing industries have also shown a trend of youthfulness in visual design. In the retail market throughout Asia, after the 1990s, cities such as Tokyo in Japan, Bangkok in Thailand, and Seoul in South Korea gradually developed their own styles and characteristics in luxury goods, fast fashion, and sportswear, and formed a certain leading force among young people. However, China is relatively weak in this regard.

Some brand stores in TX Huaihai

"As the most fashionable and trendy city in China, Shanghai has a strong acceptance of new things and a strong desire to express trendy fashion among young people. The Huaihai Road commercial district is elegant and fashionable, so we believe that building a shopping center on Huaihai Middle Road to attract young people has such a soil."

In 2019, the TX Huaihai project took the lead in promoting the slogan of "youthfulness". When it was officially launched in 2020, "Youthfulness" was also engraved into the brand name of shopping centers. Nowadays, this term is used in many neighborhoods and shopping malls to reflect the current consumer trend.

Redefining commercial space through curatorial retail

However, a new question follows closely: why do young people come to the middle section of Huaihai Middle Road? Or rather, what should TX Huaihai use to attract young people to specifically consume?

Around 2019, it was the time when online socializing and online shopping became popular. Social networking is online, shopping is online, what are the reasons why young people come offline? "It's still social." Xu Wenjun said that young people can socialize online, but they need to discuss topics that young people are interested in and enjoy, such as fashionable outfits, check-in angles, and the sale of niche products. We want to attract them to step out of their homes, complete it offline, and be satisfied offline. When a group of young people with similar interests gather together offline, new social scenes are created, making it easier to achieve consumption conversion.

TX Huaihai was the first to propose the concept of "curatorial retail", redefining commercial space. In the commercial space of every inch of land and every inch of gold, TX Huaihai has reserved nearly 25% of public space for curation. High frequency venues invite artists, designers, and influential public figures to hold cultural activities such as music festivals, art festivals, and lectures. "Our curation quantity has always been the highest among shopping centers on Huaihai Middle Road, and the quality is also very high."

On the fourth floor of the neXtlab Multidimensional Art Space, an art exhibition titled "Plush and Gears" is currently being held, jointly organized by Fang Wenshan and Jin Yuhang. Many exquisite figurines of the trendy toy brand "Ponk Cat" founded by Fang Wenshan are being exhibited. Not long ago, Fang Wenshan and Jin Yuhang held an event here, sharing their creative stories and attracting a group of young fans. NeXtlab holds various curation activities year-round.

Netizens of the exhibition "Plush and Gears"

In terms of initially introducing brands, TX Huaihai was particularly unique in abandoning some large chain brands. Industry insiders know that large chain brands often mean stability in rent. Some traditional commercial practices are to rent the best location to chain brands, with a contract lasting five to ten years, and then the mall collects rent to complete the task. "We don't want to do this," Xu Wenjun said. Young people seek novelty and change, and like to constantly change. We are more inclined to introduce brands that have curation ability, stories, private domain traffic, and can create social scenes.

"Extremely easy to buy" and "high cost performance" have become new labels

There are many independent brands that bring freshness, but because these brands are often relatively young, it also means that there may be unstable factors in operation. TX Huaihai leverages its strengths to engage in in-depth communication and co creation with brand owners, from store design, exhibition layout, to organizing community events. The advantage of this is that it ensures that the final presentation of the brand conforms to the tone of TX Huaihai.

In recent years, some niche brands have grown here and spread nationwide. On the third floor, a brand store specializing in men's clothing has expanded from over 30 square meters to over 80 square meters. The store is full of a sense of design, and although the unit price of the products is not high, the frequency of updates reaches half a month or even once a week, which is much higher than that of traditional brands, which is once every two to three months. The shop owner not only operates offline stores, but also operates a rich online community. "We have fixed fans who are loyal to our brand. Sometimes, when we announce new products in the group, young consumers will come to the store to make purchases with a strong purpose. They check in, post on their social media, and engage in a new round of promotion," said the store's relevant person in charge. Starting from Huaihai Middle Road, this brand has been established in multiple cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu in the past three years.

Independent brand BADMARKET goes from TX Huaihai to Shanghai and nationwide

For a long time, colleagues have always praised the activities and popularity of TX Huaihai; But when it comes to sales, it's not that ideal. "Our average order price is usually around a thousand yuan," Xu Wenjun admitted, which is related to the consumption characteristics of young people. The price should not be too high, but the purchase frequency should be high. "For example, when summer arrives, young people may have a dozen or two dozen T-shirts, not just a few. They need to change frequently, preferably every day, so the prices of the goods should not be too high."

TX Huaihai's brand stores frequently change themes and art installations

After 2022, a new consumption trend has emerged among young consumers - the pursuit of high cost-effectiveness, which has brought new development opportunities to TX Huaihai. New labels for TX Huaihai, such as "especially easy to buy", "treasure mall", and "high cost performance," have emerged on online media such as Xiaohongshu. More and more young consumers agree with this shopping center: "Trendy fashion does not necessarily mean expensive prices.". Since this year, TX Huaihai, which seeks innovation and change, has launched a new round of upgrading. The biggest action is to take out a roof space with invincible scenery, introduce a heavy weight into an enterprise with experience and creativity in operating communities, and hold anime, sports theme, cultural and artistic activities, etc.

Since the beginning of this year, another batch of trendy stores and first stores have landed in the middle section of Huaihai Road

"Creating a trendy social gathering place that young people love!" Nowadays, TX Huaihai has become an important node and has been included in the commercial plan of Huaihai Road in Huangpu District. In the middle section of Huaihai Road commercial circle, extending eastward from TX Huaihai to the Xiangdai Street Square area, it will create a "full-time trendy street", which is a trendy and fashionable vitality area. It will focus on trendy and fashionable IP, create top trendy blocks, and accurately position the fashionable and young customer group.