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Enoch Yiu

Peggy Sito

Sports footwear and apparel retailer Adidas will open its largest store worldwide in a Sanlitun retail development  owned by Swire Properties and Gateway Capital timed to anticipate a pick-up in business in the run-up to the  city's  Olympic Games next year.

Christophe Bezu, Asia-Pacific chief executive of Adidas, said the new store, which would feature a floor area of about 3,000 square metres, would be almost double the size of the brand's Champs Elysees outlet in Paris, which is 1,700 sqmetres.

The Sanlitun outlet has been secured on a lease of more than eight years, according to Mr Bezu.

'We think the location is the right place to do business. In fact, we were in the same location before Swire redeveloped the area.'

Swire Properties teamed up with Hong Kong property fund Gateway Capital earlier this year to buy the retail-hotel development site  for 4.8 billion yuan.

Swire will have an 80 per cent stake in the two-phase retail centre, with Gateway taking the remaining 20 per cent.

Swire also has a 100 per cent stake in the boutique hotel which forms part of the project.

Mr Bezu said he was confident that the retail market in Beijing would support the new outlet, which had been targeted to open for business in the first quarter of next year.

The location would be a magnet for merchandise aimed at high-income earners, he said.

'This new Beijing flagship shop will help us to be number one in China,' Mr Bezu said.

At present, Adidas  has 130 franchised outlets and three directly owned shops in Beijing which will be expanded to four at the end of the year.

Goodwin Gaw, chairman of Gateway Capital, said Adidas would be one of the anchor tenants of the retail centre.

'The shopping centre is very innovative and is spread out into many multi-storey glass box buildings,'  Mr Gaw said.

The south side of the centre, comprising 72,000 sqmetres of gross floor space, had been designated for mid-market operators including Adidas, he said.

The north side of the retail project, covering a gross floor area of 48,000 sqmetres, has been positioned for luxury brands.

Property consultants said Sanlitun, which has traditionally been known as a bar-street area, would be given a new lease of life following the completion of a number of developments in the area.

John Southall, head of Knight Frank Beijing's retail services division, said a number of quality projects in Beijing had created keen competition in Swire's and Gateway's Sanlitun development.

Other developments in the area include the Raffles Project and Soho Sanlitun. The north side of Swire's project would  face strong competition from the likes of Seasons Mall, China Central Place, China World Trade Centre, Oriental Plaza and the Yin Tai Centre, while the south side  would face strong competition from other centres, Mr Southall said.

Depending on the positioning and tenant mix, the developments in the area could work in harmony with each other to make Sanlitun a desirable and upmarket retail location, he said.

Lee Wee Liat, head of research for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle, said he was positive about the project due to its positioning and the prospect of a good mix of retail outlets and entertainment facilities.

He also said that walkways would help draw high pedestrian traffic.



Adidas to open its largest store worldwide in Beijing's Sanlitun