Tag: Sanlitun

  • Urban Revivo Unveils Cutting-Edge Flagship Store in Beijings Sanlitun District

    Urban Revivo Unveils Cutting-Edge Flagship Store in Beijings Sanlitun District

    Urban Revivo, a well-known fashion retailer, recently established a flagship store in Beijing’s bustling Sanlitun district, thereby offering shoppers another destination for their retail therapy.

    Modern Design with Traditional Inspirations

    The store, designed by MVRDV, a Dutch architectural company, spans an impressive 4120 square meters. Its design intricately incorporates features of traditional Chinese architecture – a nod to the local culture. The façade is inspired by conventional Chinese roofing tiles and showcases suspended aluminum panels in the brand’s distinctive blue. The store’s main entrance and display windows are framed by seven circular openings, reminiscent of traditional moon gates.

    The store’s interior design is a homage to Beijing’s historic hutong neighborhoods. It introduces grey brick finishes and presents a unique layout and material palette on each floor. The flagship store also houses six specially themed ‘Bold Rooms’, devised for product displays, seasonal presentations, and collaborations with other brands.

    Jacob van Rijs, founding partner of MVRDV, said, “The aim of this project was to design a space that resonates with its surroundings while also mirroring the international ambitions of Urban Revivo. As such, we integrated local elements, such as Beijing’s roof tiles, with modern techniques to craft spaces that evolve with the customer’s experience, right from the color-changing façade down to the minutest design detail inside.”

    Urban Revivo’s Global Presence

    Established in 2006, Urban Revivo has successfully expanded its presence to over 380 stores worldwide. The Chinese fashion retailer made its foray into the Hong Kong market in the previous year with an 813 square-meter flagship store at the Harbour City shopping center.

    Questions & Answers

    What is unique about Urban Revivo’s new flagship store in Beijing?
    The store’s design incorporates elements of traditional Chinese architecture and is inspired by Beijing’s historic hutong neighborhoods.

    Who designed Urban Revivo’s new flagship store?
    The Dutch architectural firm MVRDV designed Urban Revivo’s new store in Beijing.

    When did Urban Revivo expand into the Hong Kong market?
    Urban Revivo ventured into the Hong Kong market last year with a flagship store at the Harbour City shopping center.

  • Bob’s Select Space combines bar and retail store together

    Bob’s Select Space combines bar and retail store together

    Architectural studio Designreserve has created a new store in Beijing’s Sanlitun integrating a bar into the retail experience, according to a report. Bob’s Select Space is the flagship store for liquor retailer Bob’s Wine, aimed at creating a community space in a busy shopping area. The design explores the traditions of communication in liquor culture and merchandise.

    Designreserve co-founder Feng Yue said: “We wanted to create a strong visual identity. So we invited a graphic artist to design special fonts for each major alcohol type displayed on the facade. For us it is a kind of public art

    “Previous shops of Bob’s Wine are popular for their wide range of bottle selection as well as for their relaxing atmospheres, but the spaces were geared towards retail rather than bar.”

    The 60sqm space is divided into three rooms that transition visitors from the public domain to a more intimate “hideout”.

    “Experience is the key determining factor for the success of retail spaces,” said Yue. “Therefore, our job as designers is to create spaces where people feel inspired and hopeful that city life can still be fun.”

    View the gallery below (4 images) :

  • Tmall, Swire Properties launch New Retail initiative

    Tmall, Swire Properties launch New Retail initiative

    Alibaba Group’s Tmall and Swire Properties are launching a New Retail initiative creating tailored retail experiences at Swire Properties’ five shopping malls in Mainland China. The partnership will bring benefits to customers in time for Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on Sunday with Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing the first brick-and-mortar shopping mall in Mainland China to experience this year’s 11.11 “red packet rain” this week.

    Swire Properties will introduce Tmall’s New Retail technologies at five of its developments: Taikoo Li Sanlitun and Indigo in Beijing; HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai; Taikoo Hui in Guangzhou and Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li in Chengdu. The five New Retail initiatives include Tmall Smart Stores, a Tmall Pop-Up Store, Interactive Idol Engagement Photo Booths, Smart Nursery Rooms and a Smart Parking Service.

    Tmall Smart Stores: Shoppers will enjoy a seamless online and offline shopping experience from order to delivery (for participating physical stores). By signing up as members of selected brands, customers can instantly receive details on the latest promotions, and enjoy a return service by simply using their digital devices.

    Tmall Pop-Up Store: Tmall will open an interactive pop-up store featuring cutting-edge technology at Taikoo Li Sanlitun. This nine-day promotion during the Festival will offer shoppers in-depth and enhanced experiences.

    Interactive Idol Engagement Photo Booth: Fans will have a chance to ‘virtually interact with’ and snap a photo with their idol. This is the first-of-its-kind check-in hot spot in Mainland China.

    Smart Nursery Rooms: These offer mothers a relaxing and private space where they can nurse their babies at shopping malls. Vending machines will also offer essential nursing necessities.

    Smart Parking Service: By linking Alipay with their car license plates, drivers can pay parking fees with ease. This service will save drivers 80 per cent of the time usually spent on paying the parking charge and exiting the car park.

    “At Swire Properties, we are always looking for new ways to innovate and integrate the latest technologies into our business, so that we can bring unique experiences to our customers,” said Han Zhi, director, retail at Swire Properties. “Our collaboration with Tmall is a powerful example of digitisation. By harnessing rapidly developing online technologies and big data, our goal is to define the New Retail shopping experience.

    “This year marks the 10th anniversary of Taikoo Li Sanlitun and Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, both of which have grown in leaps and bounds the past decade. We’re confident that our partnership, which also celebrates this milestone, will set a new benchmark in our respective industries and in the digital space.”

  • The Simpsons store: a new retail phenomenon?

    The Simpsons store: a new retail phenomenon?

    The Simpsons is about to expand offscreen into a retail store network, with two flagships confirmed as the first global outlets for the popular animated US TV series.

    Beijing and Shanghai will be home to the world’s first The Simpsons stores because the 27-year-old show is familiar to Chinese audiences and Simpsons products have already been a success, reportsChina Daily. A network of 100 retail stores is planned to follow.

    Opening in the fashion district of Sanlitun in March, the Beijing store will be the first bricks-and-mortarSimpsons store in the world. The second store will be launched in Shanghai in June, according to 20th Century Fox Consumer Products president Jeffrey Godsick. Its location has yet to be announced, but it is expected to be in a high-traffic mall similar to the one in Beijing.

    Fox launched Simpsons products in China in collaboration with fashion brands nearly three years ago. It started to team up with Chinese retailers 18 months ago before deciding to open the stores last year to tap growing interest.

    Godsick says the products released in China sold out quickly, and there were routinely a three-hour queue for people to enter the fashion brand store in Shanghai that launched Simpsons products.

    Already, Walt Disney has led the way by opening its first flagship store in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area in May last year. The world’s largest Disney store, it offers more than 2000 categories of products.

    “China’s movie and television industry will bring a lot of investment opportunities for derivative product sales,” Professor Zeng Hongshan of Zhongnan University of Economics & Law has told theChina Economic Herald.

    Derivative products of Star Wars have created about $30 billion worth of business, and in 2013 and 2014 alone generated about $4.6 billion for Disney, China National Radio has reported.

    Meanwhile, the Simpsons stores will cover about 250 sqm and offer about 200 products including T-shirts, hats, jackets, pants, cellphone cases, lifestyle accessories, stationery, shoes, sneakers and socks.

    Between 25 and 50 per cent of the products will be sold exclusively through Simpsons stores, says Godsick.

    “We will continue to design individual consumer products for each of our movies and TV shows in China, and ultimately grow our brand as a company,” he says.

    In October 2014, a Simpsons World app was launched in China, allowing fans to watch all 500-plus episodes of the series for free.

  • Uniqlo denies video role

    Uniqlo denies video role

    Beijing police have arrested five people they say played a role in the filming of a video of a couple having sex in a Uniqlo fitting room in China’s capital.

    The sheer number of people involved in the video, which has gone viral on social media networks around the world, has raised speculation the apparel retailer was somehow involved behind the scenes in engineering the video as a publicity stunt.

    But the company has strenuously denied it had anything to do with the one minute long production, or endorses it. And such a viral campaign certainly does not fit with the company’s ethical positioning or its record of community involvement and sponsorships.

    Some Chinese media say the police “suspect that the case may possibly be a publicity stunt by Uniqlo”, one going so far as to quote a Beijing lawyer saying the company could face a fine of between 200,000 and 1 million RMB (US$32,000 and $165,000) and have its trading licence revoked if it was found to be involved.

    In a statement (not issued through Uniqlo’s normal media media channels) Uniqlo reportedly condemned the filming.

    Since the video was uploaded, attracting attention from news organisations worldwide, the Sanlitun flagship in which it was filmed has become something of a tourist attraction, with people posing for photographs outside.

    The young couple who had reportedly “only just met” were quickly identified via social media and have become celebrities on Chinese social media networks, albeit they have now reportedly been arrested and charged with indecency.

    From censored stills posted online by news media outlets, the video appears to have been filmed entirely by mobile phone. So the involvement of an additional three people is puzzling unless they were responsible for its spread or reposting, rather than production as reported in China.

    Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have summoned representatives of Tencent and Weibo to discuss how the video was so widely shared and viewable on its networks. Chinese law prohibits pornography.