Extended Nanjing Rd partially open
Print Edition
Part of the extension of the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall has opened to the public, while the full project to reach the Bund will be completed in September.
It is part of the Huangpu District government’s efforts to create one of the world’s top-level commercial districts with global influence and contribute to the city’s ambition to highlight its shopping brand, Gao Yun, Party secretary of Huangpu, told a press conference yesterday.
Apart from the pedestrian mall, other key districts will be facelifted and upgraded, including Huaihai Road and Yuyuan Garden Malls in Huangpu, Gao said.
Nanjing Road E., originally built in 1851 as one of the city’s first modern roads, is being extended east to the Bund from Henan Road M. to accommodate a growing number of visitors in the future.
The street stretches 1,033 meters between Xizang and Henan roads. Half the pavement on the 500-meter extension has been completed, through which visitors can now walk from Xizang Road M. to the Bund without traffic.
New greenery, small gardens, additional garbage bins and benches with special designs will be installed along the extension, while new lighting will showcase buildings on both sides, including the Peace Hotel.
Chao Kejian, the director of Huangpu, told the conference businesses along the road will also be upgraded to attract the world’s best brands to open their flagship or first stores there.
“The pedestrian street attracts over 150 million visitors annually, who spend about 18 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion), which means the average spending is only 100 yuan per person,” Chao said.
The extension and business upgrades are expected to boost consumption and drive the city’s economic development.
As an eye-catching project, Huawei has opened its biggest flagship store in the world at the beginning of the pedestrian road’s new extension, showcasing its projects and latest applications of 5G technology.
The new store covers nearly 5,000 square meters and has 220 full-time staff.
It is in a building built in 1935 by Silas Aaron Hardoon, a British real estate tycoon. Huawei says it hopes it will become a place where people can have fun, learn, share and innovate.
“Huangpu has attracted 216 flagship or first stores of international brands, such as Nike and M&M’s,” Gao said.
The Peet’s Coffee, for instance, founded in 1966 in Berkeley, California, opened a new store in at The Central, a new commercial project near the Nanjing Road E. developed from four buildings — Central Mansion, Meilun Building, Xinkang Building and Huaqiao Building — dating from between 1924 and 1930. The grand opening in May attracted a long line of customers.
Gao said sales tripled at department stores in Huangpu in May, a sign that the city was returning to normal after the COVID-19 outbreak.
More cultural and tourism events will be held in the shopping complexes to further drive spending, Chao said. Intelligent technologies will be used to allow consumers experience the latest 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies.
A big data analysis system has been launched on the Nanjing Road E. It shows 36 percent of the consumers are at their 20s who spend about 28 minutes on the road. Some 6 percent of the visitors go to the Yuyuan Garden from the pedestrian street.
Chao said the landmark Century Plaza in the middle of the pedestrian mall will undergo a major renovation by the end of the year for international brands to launch their new products and become a popular wanghong (online celebrity) site. “The renovation blueprint has been changed repeatedly to make it on par with the Times Square in Manhattan,” Chao said.
Nanjing Road was built in 1851 as Park Lane from the Bund to a race track on today’s Henan Road. It was extended to Zhejiang Road in 1854 before being further stretched to Xizang Road in 1862
Nanjing Road E. was converted to a pedestrian street and unveiled to the public on September 20, 1999.
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