Sun Hung Kai's late-night iAPM mall sets new benchmark in Shanghai
Developer hopes the iAPM mall, a big draw for its late-night shopping, can bring in rents of 600m yuan a year from its high-end retailers
The opening of the iAPM mall on Shanghai's busiest shopping strip has stolen the limelight in the mainland's retail industry, with its late-night offering set to challenge rival retailers dependent on traditional operating hours.
The mall on Huaihai Zhong Road stays open until midnight and has already attracted large crowds since its soft launch in August, even though new supply of retail spaces has hit a 10-year high in Shanghai.
"After five months of operation, we still have long queues outside restaurants after 9pm, and in one incident a late shopper spent more than 100,000 yuan in one retail outlet after 10pm," said Maureen Fung Sau-yim, the general manager of Sun Hung Kai Properties' leasing department.
"We have set a new trend for late-night shopping in the city." Most other shopping malls in Shanghai are open until 9pm or 10pm.
Fung believes more than 36 million shoppers will visit the five-level upmarket mall and spend 4 billion yuan (HK$5.1 billion) in its first year of operation. An estimated 300,000 visitors attended the new year's eve countdown at the mall.
The mall was named after the company's APM development in Kwun Tong, which opened for business in 2005. It is located on top of the South Shaanxi Road metro station.