Pudong taps Lujiazui as top commercial hub

Pudong New Area plans to build Lujiazui into the city’s top commercial hub by 2020, featuring the most high-end brands and bringing in the highest revenue compared to similar rivals in other districts, officials said on Tuesday.

Over the next three years, Pudong will introduce one to two renowned global retailers every year so as to make local retailers stand apart from the usual shopping destinations.

French upscale retail chain Galeries Lafayette will open its Shanghai store in Lujiazui in October, according to Lu Qixing, deputy director of Pudong’s commercial commission.

An earlier announcement by Galeries Lafayette China and Shanghai-listed Lujiazui revealed that the new department store will be spread over 23,100 square meters, more than three standard soccer fields in size. Currently, Galeries Lafayette has one store in China — in Beijing.

Also, this year, two of Lujiazui’s landmark shopping destinations — Shanghai IFC Mall and Super Brand Mall — will adjust their brand layout in a bid to rejuvenate the shopping environment. Some of the brands will be firsts in China, Lu divulged, without giving details.

Besides, officials are considering setting up a center to display and sell luxurious goods and top-brand items. They are also discussing moves to open a downtown duty-free shop and incubators for new retail formats, Lu said, adding that further studies are under way.

In a concerted push to build Pudong into a global fashion highland, riverside shopping malls and other cultural sites, like Asia’s once largest grain silo of the historic Minsheng Port, are encouraged to join hands to hold a variety of fashion shows and cultural events, Lu revealed.

Pudong hopes to fetch 4.5 trillion yuan (US$713 billion) in total sales of consumer goods in 2020, accounting more than one third of the city’s total, Lu said.

Pudong will also step up efforts to promote smart and green manufacturing over the next three years.

Unlike traditional manufacturing centers, Pudong doesn’t focus on expanding the industry scale for mass production. Instead, the district pioneers others in high technology development and uses the results in today’s promising fields like bio-pharmaceuticals, car making and electronic information, said Tang Shiqing, director of Pudong’s technology commission.

In 2020, under the plan, the industrial output value of electronic information and car making is estimated to exceed 300 billion yuan and 250 billion yuan, respectively. 

Currently, drug makers in Pudong are conducting phase II to phase III clinical tests for 30 new drugs. “In the future, drugs that can tackle today’s incurable diseases are likely to be made here,” Tang predicted.