Commuters alighting at Taipei City Hall MRT station in October will be greeted by a new department store catering for 30-somethings, especially office ladies working in the Xinyi neighborhood.
The much-touted Uni-President Hankyu Department Store (統一阪急百貨) — a joint venture between Taiwan’s Uni-President Group (統一集團) and Japan’s Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores Inc — is gearing up to compete on the frontline of the city’s shopping war zone.
Xinyi district is already home to four Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Stores (新光三越) — the A4, A8, A9 and A11 malls. Across the street lies New York New York (紐約紐約展覽購物中心), which, following a change of ownership, is set to close next month for a facelift that will last until March.
Just minutes away, the Taipei 101 Mall beckons shoppers with deep pockets, especially those from China. Its main rival in the area, the European-themed Bellavita (寶麗廣塲) is moving into its ninth month of operation. Bellavita, dubbed “the mall for the rich,” sets its sights on a VIP clientele.
But Uni-President Hankyu is undeterred by the competition, banking on its position as a “station mall” to secure a steady flow of traffic.
Uni-President made its mark in the department store business by launching the first Uni-President Hankyu outlet in Kaohsiung in 2007.
Located adjacent to the Dream Mall (夢時代購物中心) — another of the group’s businesses — Taiwan’s first Hankyu outlet “could have performed better last year,” said Wang Po-ming (王寶銘), Uni-President Hankyu’s general manager, adding that its sales only reached about NT$1.9 billion (US$59 million).
The group is banking on its Xinyi mall, part of a complex that will house a hotel and bus terminal. The mall itself will span nine floors — including two basement levels — over 8,000 ping (26,400m²), while US brand W Hotel will occupy floors eight to 31.
The ground level of the complex will double as a bus terminal operated by the Taipei City Government and serve as a hub for 19 bus routes.
An estimated 100,000 commuters will use the Taipei City Hall MRT and the bus terminal on an average day, with the terminal set to open early next month at the latest, Wang said.
The station mall concept has proved successful in Taipei as shown by Qsquare (京站時尚廣場).
Opened in December last year, the 20,000-ping, seven-floor Qsquare enjoys through traffic from Taipei Railway Station and Taipei Bus Station, with some visitors coming from the Palais de Chine Hotel (君品酒店), which is part of the complex that links up Qsquare and the bus station.
“It looks like we are on track to meet our first-year sales of NT$5 billion, a tough target to achieve considering we are a newbie,” said Sunny Liu (劉懿慧), Qsquare strategy and planning director.
But Qsquare benefits from a steady flow of 500,000 commuters MRT, railway and bus commuters each day.
Naoya Araki, director and executive officer of Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, said a typical station mall in Japan is able to survive as long as there are 80,000 to 100,000 commuters transferring via the station per day,
Hankyu Hanshin opened the world’s first station mall in 1929. It now has 15 malls in Japan and is the No. 6 mall operator there in terms of revenues.
Taiwan’s department store business is saturated, but Araki believes the new mall will stand out with its slew of differentiated offerings.
Retail space at the Uni-President Hankyu “has all been taken up” with 20 percent of the brands new to Taiwan, the company said.
One is Japan’s popular casual wear brand Uniqlo, which will occupy the basement level with its first Taiwanse outlet covering 440 pings.
Another selling point of Uni-President Hankyu is the “Dream Plaza,” an outdoor space on the second floor that can accommodate audiences of 2,000 for events such as concerts, fashion shows, performances or New Year countdowns.
“The ‘Dream Plaza’ will bring the performance scene in Xinyi alive,” Wang said, adding that the mall hopes to see annual revenues similar to those from the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A8 mall — the top performer among its sibling malls in Xinyi, with sales totaling some NT$4 billion last year.
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