Heritage streets find peddling the past requires patience and good marketing
August 28, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE heritage of ancient water towns, exemplified by the cultural streets of Qibao and Zhaojialou, has become a special part of development in Minhang. But it's not always easy to attract customers to more obscure areas of Shanghai, a city filled with competing cultural streets. So let's take a tour of Qibao and Zhaojialou, where bookstores, art galleries and studios are determined to lift their profile and tell people what they have to offer is well worth a trip.
Cats' Sky City
Compared with the crowded food and specialty stores on Qibao Old Street, the newly opened "Cat's Sky City" bookstore occupies a more obscure nook and can easily be overlooked by the casual visitor.
Cat's Sky City, headquartered in the city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, has many branches, so the outlet in Qibao is really just a franchise. It specializes in books on travel, art and literature.
One salient feature of the headquarters store has been installed in Qibao -- the postcard delivery wall. On this wall are various postcards, all designed by the bookstore. Customers may order postcards of their choice and nominate a delivery date for any day in the next 10 years.
"Daily sales total between 600 yuan and 700 yuan (US$88 and US$103) are in line with our estimates," said 30-year-old bookstore owner Zhang Jiawen. "Since the number of visitors to Qibao Old Town is always a huge one, despite our remote location in the town, we are counting on customer numbers rising."
Doing business on Qibao Old Street means high rents for vendors. Commercial vacancy rates are very low. Many original leases have sublet their shops. High rents put a squeeze on retailers and force out low-margin operators that might add more dimension and variety to the street. This dynamic affects the development of the heritage area.
The problem has attracted the attention of the Qibao Old Town Co, which is in charge of business development along the street. Officials there said the company is planning to develop an area of 12,000 square meters and earmark shop space for smaller culture-related operators.
Jiegong Gallery
The newly opened Jiegong Gallery in Zhaojialou Old Town is having a worse time than Cat's Sky City in attracting the public attention.
Gallery owner Zhang Minjun has heard the question all too often: "Where is Zhaojialou?"
The gallery has done a lot of publicity work to try to steer people to its location, but the area is still not widely known by Shanghai citizens.
Most of the visitors to Zhaojialou currently are older people, mainly interested in food and specialty items. But young people, usually the prime consumers of the cultural industry, have yet to discover the old town in big numbers.
"I used to hold a party on Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine's Day to try to attract young people, but I finally had to give it up because we didn't get enough takers," said Zhang Minjun. Zhang is not alone in suffering the slings of obscurity. Zhaojialou Old Town is now taking steps to upgrade its low profile. The company running the street said it will set up special travel routes and traffic lanes to attract more visitors.
"Although it's been an inauspicious start, I won't give up," said Zhang, "After all, Zhaojialou was once the agricultural heartland of Shanghai and is the home of many famous people. The historical culture here will eventually catch on and be an attraction of note."
Cats' Sky City
Compared with the crowded food and specialty stores on Qibao Old Street, the newly opened "Cat's Sky City" bookstore occupies a more obscure nook and can easily be overlooked by the casual visitor.
Cat's Sky City, headquartered in the city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, has many branches, so the outlet in Qibao is really just a franchise. It specializes in books on travel, art and literature.
One salient feature of the headquarters store has been installed in Qibao -- the postcard delivery wall. On this wall are various postcards, all designed by the bookstore. Customers may order postcards of their choice and nominate a delivery date for any day in the next 10 years.
"Daily sales total between 600 yuan and 700 yuan (US$88 and US$103) are in line with our estimates," said 30-year-old bookstore owner Zhang Jiawen. "Since the number of visitors to Qibao Old Town is always a huge one, despite our remote location in the town, we are counting on customer numbers rising."
Doing business on Qibao Old Street means high rents for vendors. Commercial vacancy rates are very low. Many original leases have sublet their shops. High rents put a squeeze on retailers and force out low-margin operators that might add more dimension and variety to the street. This dynamic affects the development of the heritage area.
The problem has attracted the attention of the Qibao Old Town Co, which is in charge of business development along the street. Officials there said the company is planning to develop an area of 12,000 square meters and earmark shop space for smaller culture-related operators.
Jiegong Gallery
The newly opened Jiegong Gallery in Zhaojialou Old Town is having a worse time than Cat's Sky City in attracting the public attention.
Gallery owner Zhang Minjun has heard the question all too often: "Where is Zhaojialou?"
The gallery has done a lot of publicity work to try to steer people to its location, but the area is still not widely known by Shanghai citizens.
Most of the visitors to Zhaojialou currently are older people, mainly interested in food and specialty items. But young people, usually the prime consumers of the cultural industry, have yet to discover the old town in big numbers.
"I used to hold a party on Qixi Festival, or Chinese Valentine's Day to try to attract young people, but I finally had to give it up because we didn't get enough takers," said Zhang Minjun. Zhang is not alone in suffering the slings of obscurity. Zhaojialou Old Town is now taking steps to upgrade its low profile. The company running the street said it will set up special travel routes and traffic lanes to attract more visitors.
"Although it's been an inauspicious start, I won't give up," said Zhang, "After all, Zhaojialou was once the agricultural heartland of Shanghai and is the home of many famous people. The historical culture here will eventually catch on and be an attraction of note."
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