The bigger, the better. That's the basic spirit behind the Uni-President Group's (
Kao made the remarks during a topping-off ceremony for the 121,000-ping (400,000m2) Dream Mall (
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The mall, which is located next to Kaohsiung Harbor and within a 10-minute drive from the city's downtown, expects to divert shoppers from the city's smaller retailers, including Hanshin Department Store (漢神百貨), Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越) and the FE21 Mega shopping center (高雄大遠百), Kao said.
"We have no rivals here [in Kaohsiung] because no one can compare with us in terms of size," said Kao, whose group owns the nation's largest food conglomerate, Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業).
"We will make it a landmark in Kaohsiung and a must-see for foreign tourists," Kao said.
The NT$30 billion (US$930 million) mall will be twice the size of the ball-shaped Core Pacific City Mall (
Rising nine stories with three basement levels, the mall will feature a small rooftop Ferris wheel, as well as department stores, hypermarkets, theme parks, gyms, a Cinemark cinema (喜滿客) and an Eslite Bookstore to offer a wide array of services, said Yeh Chih-chung (葉致中), president of the Tung Li Development Co Ltd (統立開發), which is in charge of the mall's management and operation.
With 63 percent of the mall's available space already contracted out to tenants, Yeh said they are also in talks with international brands, including LV and Gucci, to strengthen the product mix.
The mall aims to attract 12 million people a year and achieve NT$14.4 billion in first-year sales, he said.
After the mall begins operation, the company will focus on building the second phase of the project, a five-star hotel on a 8,000-ping piece of land next to the shopping center, Yeh said.
As a novice in the shopping sector, the group has cooperated with Japan's Diamond City Co Ltd to benefit from its retail know-how.
"If the mall operates well, we will duplicate the model northward to Tainan, Taichung and then Taipei," Kao said.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market value closed above US$1 trillion for the first time in Taipei last week, with a raised sales forecast driven by robust artificial intelligence (AI) demand. TSMC saw its Taiwanese shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50 percent rise from an April low. That has made it the first Asian stock worth more than US$1 trillion, since PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣) briefly reached the milestone in 2007. As investors turned calm after their aggressive buying on Friday, amid optimism over the chipmaker’s business outlook, TSMC lost 0.43 percent to close at NT$1,150