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Tag: Store

  • China’s Tan Mujiang opens first store in USA

    China’s Tan Mujiang opens first store in USA

    Chinese wooden-comb manufacturer Tan Mujiang has continued its international expansion with the opening of its first flagship store in the US.

    The store dubbed as H0006 is located at Flushing Main Street in New York City and carries combs made from natural materials by traditional Chinese handicrafts with “beautiful shape, smooth lines, exquisite texture, rich colors and fine hand feel”. It is Tan Mujiang’s second store in North America after Toronto, which opened in May.

    The manufacturer said it has obtained more than 80 patents since 2013 and has been providing supplies to more than 1200 shops in China and nine flagship stores in Southeast Asia, Toronto and New York.

    The company says it plans to popularise its brand by operating franchised stores worldwide. It also plans to increase its investment in overseas market promotion by participating in grand international exhibitions and will promote products on popular social media internationally.

    Tan Mujiang also sells through Amazon and eBay.

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  • Samsung China’s first flagship opens, in front of Apple store

    Samsung China’s first flagship opens, in front of Apple store

    Samsung China has opened its first flagship experience store in the market – and it is right opposite its archrival.

    The almost 1000sqm Shanghai store is the brand’s largest in Asia, and stands opposite Apple’s Nanjing East Road store. The store has two sections and stocks Samsung’s full range of mobiles as well as featuring a 5G experience zone for customers to participate in large-scale cloud games and watch HD video broadcasts.

    Samsung has recently readjusted its strategy in the territory, shifting all mobile device manufacturing to India and China. The experience store is the latest development in the new strategy.

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  • Tesco Malaysia marks 60-store milestone in country

    Tesco Malaysia marks 60-store milestone in country

    Tesco Malaysia has opened its 60th store. The more-than 2000sqft store at Wangsa Walk is the retailer’s largest in the country, with recent changes in regulations reducing costs for an operation of this size and opening the path for similar formats going forward.

    “In providing a 2000sqft superstore with a targeted range of our famous value for money pricing, we are providing convenience and value for money to the customers in this area who were not able to enjoy all these before,” said Tesco Malaysia CEO Paul Ritchie as reported in the New Straits Times.

    “Going forward, we plan to keep expanding in Malaysia within this format as it believes that there is still a lot of growth opportunities in this country.”

    Tesco Malaysia has been operating for 17 years.

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  • First Steve Madden store opens in Malaysia

    First Steve Madden store opens in Malaysia

    Steve Madden has opened its first store in Malaysia in partnership with retail group Valiram.

    Following success in Singapore, Steve Madden Malaysia marks the label’s second boutique launched by Valiram.

    “It is an absolute privilege for us to present yet another new-to-market lifestyle brand to Malaysia. Steve Madden is a trend leader that is intrinsically urban with an edgy attitude, and we’re certain it will make an impact with the fashion-forward shoppers in Kuala Lumpur,” said Ashvin Valiram, executive director of Valiram.

    Located in Mid Valley Megamall Kuala Lumpur, the 1410sqft store features the brand’s new design concept “Distilled Urban”, the incorporation of wood, steel and concrete, inspired by contemporary New York City chic.

    The Steve Madden Malaysia store also featured the new Fall 2019 Collection at its opening event.

    Founded in 1935, retail group Valiram operates more than 380 stores across Asia Pacific, presenting international brands including Michael Kors, Tumi and Victoria’s Secret.

  • China’s convenience-store market is booming business

    China’s convenience-store market is booming with rapid sales growth and rapid network expansion ahead.

    Sales through Chinese convenience stores reached US$19.78 billion last year, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 percent over the past five years, according to new research from Mintel.

    Sales are predicted to grow to $22.75 billion this year and Mintel says there will be more than 117,000 convenience stores in China by 2024 – a huge increase from the 75,000 last year.

    “The convenience store sector has experienced double-digit growth, even at this challenging time for brick-and-mortar retail in China. This is due, in part, to consumers’ continuous pursuit of time efficiency, availability and instant fulfillment,” said Chih-yuan Wang, category research director, retail at Mintel Reports – China.

    She said to meet customers’ ongoing demand, convenience stores in China need to strengthen their social function and provide more types of the shopping experience, including launching themed stores and exclusive products by collaborating with different manufacturers and brands.

    The study shows that more than 61 percent of urban Chinese customers shop at convenience stores several times a week while more than 50 percent of respondents like to window-shop and eat inside convenience stores.

    Young and female consumers are more open to themed convenience stores, according to Mintel. More than half (54 percent) of urban Chinese respondents like convenience stores decorated in different themes.

    Meanwhile, 56 percent of Chinese respondents say that they like to try new products in convenience stores, skewed towards post-90s (62 percent) and female consumers (60 percent).

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  • South Korean convenience-store chain CU to accept cryptocurrency

    South Korean convenience-store chain CU to accept cryptocurrency

    Major South Korean convenience-store chain CU is preparing to accept payments in cryptocurrency.

    The chain, which operates more than 13,000 outlets in the country, will use the Chai payment system to trade in Terra, a won-backed stablecoin that has garnered investment from many large Korean firms.

    CU parent firm BGF Retail partnered with Chai earlier this week to allow buyers to pay by presenting a barcode from the Chai mobile app.

    Terra co-founder Do Kwon told CCN Korea that low-margin businesses struggle to accept volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In other regions, retailers often deal with exchanges to convert cryptocurrency payments to money on the spot.

    “Moving forward, Chai will continue to lessen the burden on franchisees and increase the merit of consumers through partnerships with various companies like CU convenience store with an on and offline infrastructure,” said Chai Corporation president Han Chang-joon in a statement translated by CCN.

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  • Amazon launches local online E-commerce store

    Amazon launches local online E-commerce store

    Amazon has launched Amazon.sg, a larger local online store in Singapore, to diversify its product offer and compete with rivals such as Lazada and Shopee.

    Fast delivery service through mobile app Amazon Prime Now was launched in Singapore in 2017. However, the initial product range was not broad enough to compete with other online shopping platforms.

    “With Amazon.sg, we want to provide what customers have been asking us for: the ability for everyone to shop on a desktop and mobile, more local and international selection from Amazon and trusted sellers, paired with fast and reliable delivery”, says Henry Low, country manager at Amazon Singapore. “And we are also adding even more benefits for Prime members.”

    Different to other e-commerce companies which focus on a marketplace model, Amazon allows small- and medium-sized Singapore businesses  (SMBs) to offer their products on Amazon.sg to reach more online customers and expand their business.

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  • Alceon opens first certified Lego store in Melbourne

    Alceon opens first certified Lego store in Melbourne

    Melbourne’s Lego community turned out in force for the opening of the first certified Lego store in Victoria, forming a five-hour-long queue outside the new store in Westfield Doncaster shopping centre, which opened to the public at 10am on Thursday.

    Like other Lego stores around the world, the location in Melbourne was designed to be an interactive retail space, with several low play tables and loose bricks for kids to play with and a hand scanner that “identifies” which mini-figure the customer is.

    The store also features a “pick-a-brick” wall that is changed on a regular basis, where customers can fill containers with bricks of their choosing, and a “build your own mini-figure” station, where customers can customise their own mini-figure.

    The store also features an AFL figure made of 27,662 individual bricks and a mural of a Melbourne tram made of 88,470 individual bricks. The figure and the mural took 143 hours and 430 hours, respectively, to build.

    “We’ve worked closely with the LEGO Group to create a retail experience that showcases the creativity, innovation and potential of the brand,” said Richard Facioni, executive director of Alceon Group, which holds the rights to Lego certified stores in Australia and New Zealand.

    The Melbourne store marks Alceon Group’s third certified Lego store in Australia, following the opening of stores in Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney in March and Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast in September.

    The stores have benefited from the recent surge of interest in Lego, driven by Channel 9’s popular Lego Masters reality TV show, and several contestants were on hand for the opening of the Melbourne store.

    Alceon Group plans to capitalise on this interest by opening many more stores across the country over the coming months.

    The Westfield Doncaster store is just the “first of a number of LEGO Certified Stores planned for Melbourne”, according to Facioni.

    Alceon Group is an investment firm that is one of the biggest retail companies in Australia, following its acquisition of Specialty Fashion Group’s Katies, Millers, Autograph, Crossroads and Millers brands, James Packer’s Pretty Girl Fashion group and Pumpkin Patch.

    The company also has a controlling stak

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  • Huawei’s global flagship opens in Shenzhen

    Huawei’s global flagship opens in Shenzhen

    Huawei’s global flagship store has opened in Shenzhen’s MixC World as the brand’s first direct-sale store globally.

    The 1300sqm store, which has been in preparation since 2017, allows customers to explore Huawei’s latest and most comprehensive product range, as well as experience a fast 5G connection, relax and meet up with friends.

    “Shenzhen is an international technology and innovation centre, we believe that Huawei Global Flagship Store will become the new connecting hub between Huawei and customers,” said Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu. “MixC World is a gathering place where fashion, technology and liberal art meet together and Huawei’s global flagship store will become Huawei’s city living room connecting the consumers.”

    The three-storey building combines traditional Chinese and Western architectural philosophies, with a facade that adopts a large area of high transmission glass with rounded corners and a unique semi-open staircase connecting the square and the surrounding environment.

    Free courses are offered by the Huawei community covering topics such as photography, videography, sports and health care. Technical enthusiasts and app developers can learn how to build the Huawei global ecosystem from technical experts.

    “We no longer call it a retail store, we call it community plaza, an open community for everyone,” said Huawei Consumer Business Group CMO Herman Zhu. “Consumers can come and create, learn about the most advanced technology and trends, or just connect again with one another.”

    Huawei’s global flagship uses a large number of environmentally friendly and recyclable materials. The felt used for ceilings and walls is made of recyclable plastic parts; the table uses nanoboard, which can be used for more than ten years; the floor is made of marble with natural ingredients and zero resin.

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  • Shoppers Stop reveals new store concept in Delhi

    Shoppers Stop reveals new store concept in Delhi

    Indian department store chain Shoppers Stop has opened a new 33,000sqft outlet in Delhi.

    The store was designed by the Dubai office of Schwitzke & Partners to reflect the latest international trends in retail strategy. This includes aspects such as merchandise presentation, customer movement and navigation, and department adjacency.

    Having expanded operations to more than 80 locations across India, Shoppers Stop was looking to evolve its stores’ aesthetic and presentation to upgrade customers’ shopping experience.

    The design features specific materials and elements to highlight each division in order to boost recognition. Another objective was to design the brand areas to be unobtrusive, so all brands have sufficient space to express themselves.

    The departments implement new merchandise presentation solutions, which includes fixture designs to accentuate individual products. Customer touchpoints were also given a m

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  • Aeon Stores Hong Kong fined over TV sale

    Aeon Stores Hong Kong fined over TV sale

    Aeon Stores Hong Kong has been convicted and fined HKD1200 (US$153) at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts for contravening the Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance (PERO) as a result of not informing a customer about its statutory obligation when selling a television set.

    A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said the department had received a complaint earlier about Aeon Stores failing to provide him with a free statutory removal service after the sale of a television set. EPD enforcement officers carried out investigations at the store and discovered that when selling television sets, staff of Aeon Stores made a false claim that customers must contact a recycler on their own to recycle their old television sets. In addition, staff of Aeon Stores did not inform customers of the sellers’ obligation to arrange a statutory removal service as well as the relevant terms. After collecting evidence, the EPD prosecuted Aeon Stores for contravening the relevant requirements under the PERO.

    The spokesman emphasised that according to the PERO, which came into effect on August 1 last year, when distributing regulated electrical equipment (REE), sellers must have a removal service plan endorsed by the EPD and proactively inform consumers in writing of the sellers’ obligation to provide a free statutory removal service as well as the relevant removal terms. Moreover, sellers must arrange a free removal service for consumers to dispose of waste equipment of the same type and provide a recycling label as well as a receipt containing the prescribed wording when distributing REE.

    The spokesman reminded all the relevant sellers that they must not make false statements to consumers or deliberately conceal the terms of their statutory removal service with a view to avoiding the relevant legal liabilities. Otherwise, they may contravene the PERO.

    First-time offenders are liable to a maximum fine of HKD5000 to HKD100,000 ($637–$12,755). A maximum fine of HKD10,000 to HKD200,000 ($1275–$25,500) may be imposed on a subsequent conviction.

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  • Apple Japan opens its largest store today

    Apple Japan opens its largest store today

    Apple Japan has opened its largest flagship store this month in Marunouchi, Tokyo.

    The new stores was designed by Foster + Partners, one of several architecture practices commissioned to build the tech giant’s retail stores around the world. Foster + Partners also recently completed the revamp of the Fifth Avenue ‘cube store’ in New York City.

    A Foster + Partners spokesperson said the company wanted the Apple Japan store to embody “an honesty of materiality”.

    Located adjacent to the busy Tokyo Station, Apple’s fifth store in Tokyo features a facade featuring two-storey glass display windows framed with aluminium and with 3-dimensional, rounded corners.

    Inside, locally sourced bamboo was planted to create a vibrant greenery atmosphere.

    “The opening of Apple Marunouchi marks a significant moment in Apple’s long relationship with Japan,” said Deirdre O’Brien, senior VP of retail and people at Apple.

    “We wanted to create a restrained presence amid the bustle of Tokyo,” said Stefan Behling, head of studio at Foster + Partners. “The beautifully crafted aluminium vitrines (display windows) define the boundary of the store and Apple’s presence, offering everyone walking by a glimpse into the store. The structural grid gives the entire volume a certain rhythm, while the calm interior is enhanced by the bamboo that lines the perimeter.”

    Later this month Apple Japan will also relocate its Apple Fukuoka to a new and expanded location and complete the remodelling of Apple Omotesando.

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  • South Korea’s CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    South Korea’s CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    South Korea’s CU convenience store chain will expand its footprint to Vietnam, its second international market after Mongolia.

    BGF Retail, the operator of CU, signed a master-franchise agreement with CUVN, a Vietnam-based convenience store operator, on Tuesday. CUVN will be in charge of investment and operations in Vietnam market as BGF Retail contributes its brand and business background.

    BGF Retail and CUVN plan to open their first store in Vietnam by June next year.

    Park Jae-koo, CEO of BGF Retail, said the company will continue to expand internationally making forays into growing emerging markets.

    With the new expansion, the South Korean convenience store operator expects to gain a strong position in the Southeast Asian market as Vietnam’s economy has witnessed significant growth during recent years.

    Rival network GS25 has already launched in Vietnam, opening stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

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  • CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    South Korea’s CU convenience store chain will expand its footprint to Vietnam, its second international market after Mongolia.

    BGF Retail, the operator of CU, signed a master franchise agreement with CUVN, a Vietnam-based convenience store operator, on Tuesday. CUVN will be in charge of investment and operations in Vietnam market as BGF Retail contributes its brand and business background.

    BGF Retail and CUVN plan to open their first store in Vietnam by June next year.

    Park Jae-koo, CEO of BGF Retail, said the company will continue to expand internationally making forays into growing emerging markets.

    With the new expansion, the South Korean convenience store operator expects to gain a strong position in the Southeast Asian market as Vietnam’s economy has witnessed significant growth during recent years.

    Rival network GS25 has already launched in Vietnam, opening stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

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  • Thinkware dash cams opens flagship store in Singapore

    Thinkware dash cams opens flagship store in Singapore

    Dash cam firm Thinkware is opening a flagship store in Singapore.

    The Thinkware Singapore store will provide a suite of services including troubleshooting, warranty services, dash cam maintenance and repairs. In addition to after-sales services, Thinkware will also exhibit its top dash cams at the venue – including the X700 and latest U1000 models that feature the firm’s Cat-M1 Internet of Things technology and Thinkware Cloud. Customers will also be able to access other enhanced recording and supplementary smart car technologies such as alarm systems and Apple carplay head units, among others.

    The Serangoon North Ave launch comes at a time when the company is on its international business expansion phase within the automotive industry.

    “Thinkware has long been a trusted name in dash cam technology and we believe that Singapore is an ideal market with dash cams steadily growing in popularity amidst advancements in connectivity, recording quality and improved vehicle safety,” said Thinkware Singapore MD Kenneth Low. “We are excited to bring the very first Thinkware premium store to Singapore and look forward to serving our customers.”

    Thinkware is the highest selling dash camera company in the competitive Korean market and its devices are available across 800 cities worldwide.

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