is located along Chang'an Street, COFCO Plaza and Zhuangsheng Chongguang Department Store, one in the east and the other in the west, and has a business history of nearly 20 years. Now these two former commercial "nobles" seem to be aligning with office buildings, one is over and the other is under renovation. " Beijing office building has strong demand, stable market, less difficult operation, and greater returns." This is the reason why industry experts give the transformation of old-fashioned businesses.
Urban renewal is a cyclical process. After 20 years of operation, old businesses are either secretly making secrets or making drastic innovations and cross-borders. These "old trees" are looking forward to "new buds".
The decline of the "noble" transformed into an office building
On May 26, Building C of COFCO Plaza was re-developed after 227 days and nights of renovation. This once famous "World Home Garden" is planning to regain its "shadow" back then.
COFCO Plaza is the first gathering place for imported home furnishing brands in Beijing. There was once a saying in the industry that "buy foreign COFCO". Because of their high home level, most of the visitors are celebrities, and corporate executives, performing artists, and diplomats from all over the world are regular customers in and out of COFCO.
However, as more and more imported home furnishing brands enter the country, the "noble" identity of COFCO Plaza has gradually faded.
"The rise of home furnishing stores such as JuRan Home and Red Star Macalline has changed the situation where COFCO Plaza is dominant." Wang Yongping, president of the Commercial Real Estate Research Association of , analyzed.
, which began to transform into an office building, COFCO Plaza
, after experiencing business pains, COFCO decisively seeks transformation. Since the operation of COFCO Plaza in May 1996, it has 20 years of experience in office development and operation. Therefore, "business conversion" seems to be natural.
Now, this former high-end home furnishing store has not simply turned into a Grade A office building, but is equipped with COFCO LIFE and COFCO FANTASY.
Xiao V learned that a station in this shared office space is more than 2,000 yuan/month, and you can get shared services. In COFCO Plaza, the most attractive thing is the shared office space, which has the "hutong" style of old Beijing.
Wang Yongping, president of the Commercial Real Estate Research Association of the All-China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, is optimistic about the business format adjustment of COFCO Plaza. "The highlight of COFCO Plaza office buildings is the addition of public services and public commercial parts." He said.
COFCO Plaza’s renovation cost is quite expensive compared to the construction of new office buildings in third- and fourth-tier cities. The purpose is to build a commercial operation brand like “ Joy City ”. , Vice President of COFCO Group and Chairman of Joy City Real Estate Zhou Zheng has hope for COFCO Plaza for this transformation.
"Old Business" is waiting to be replaced with a new look
, also located along Chang'an Street, COFCO Plaza and Zhuangsheng Chonggou Department Store, one in the east and the other in the west, but it seems to have the same fate. Zhuangsheng Chonggou Department Store opened in June 1998, two years later than COFCO Plaza.
In June 2000, a sentence "I want to go to SOGO!" echoed throughout the capital, and Zhuang Sheng SOGO also became one of the first choices for people in the capital for holiday leisure shopping. The 4th anniversary of the store celebration in 2002 exceeded 1 million people in four days, with daily sales reaching 43.6 million yuan, breaking the highest single-day sales record of single-department stores in the retail industry at that time.
Due to the successful commercial operation, in August 2007, the new building of Zhuangsheng Chongguang Department Store was opened. In addition to the previously opened building area of our museum, the total construction area exceeds 130,000 square meters, making it one of the largest department stores in Beijing.
However, recently, media have reported that a large number of brands in the mall are evacuated and the stores are seriously vacant. On the first working day after the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Xiao V came to Zhuangsheng SOGO. Everything she saw here could no longer find the "shadow" of her former prosperity.
Zhuangsheng SOGO popularity has dropped significantly
Small V In this museum, a small number of merchants evacuated on the first, second and third floors, and many elevators were suspended. Only the food court is open on the sixth floor, while the rest of the venues are idle. All merchants on the fourth and fifth floors have been evacuated, and the store has been blocked. According to salesperson Jieshi, the fourth and fifth floors are under renovation.
and how to deal with the remaining merchants in the first, second and third layers.Some salesmen said they didn't know how to arrange the mall, and they were waiting for the results, but in the end they all had to be renovated, just to be carried out layer by layer.
Xiao V In a conspicuous location next to the stairs, a super-large office building rental advertisement in Zhuangsheng Plaza, with a rental area of between 3,000-35,000 square meters.
Zhuangsheng SOGO "has been greatly impacted by the Xidan business circle." Wang Yongping said that Zhuangsheng SOGO plans to retain part of the business and adjust it to an office building owner, and is still under renovation. "Now, good office buildings in Beijing are very popular, and this project is good. This adjustment is a pragmatic choice." The driving force for "business rewriting"
commercial reworking is not uncommon in recent years. For example, Pacific Department Store in , Sanlitun , and Huatang Shopping Mall in Beiyuan area. In 2016, Zhongguancun Dinghao Building announced that it had spent four years to clear out the electronic store of the building and introduce the co-creation space brand to operate. Currently, except for the first floor, they are all crowd-creation spaces that provide office services. The Hailong Mall, which is not far away, has also been transformed as a comprehensive transformation and has become a new office building for rent. If you count it in detail, there are no less than a dozen such cases of "business rewriting" in Beijing.
What is the motivation for commercial projects to transform into office buildings?
"The Beijing office building market is easy to do, the demand for office buildings is strong, the market is stable, the operation is less difficult, and the benefits are greater." Wang Yongping explained the reasons for many commercial transformations into office buildings. Commercial projects require brand and operational capabilities, which are more difficult than office buildings.
Zhuangsheng SOGO has already launched office rental advertisements
"The vacancy rate of Beijing Grade A office buildings has remained below 5% for many years, making Beijing one of the most in short supply office buildings markets. The rental price is also close to the central region of Hong Kong. It ranks among the highest in Asia. This status quo shows that the Beijing market needs more office space." The results shown by the data from JLL Beijing Research Department in April can summarize the current popularity of the Beijing office market.
"The office building market is weakly impacted by the Internet, and demand growth is stable. Considering its stable rent, low management and operating costs, changing shopping malls to office buildings has become a new choice for developers to increase their income. Especially for traditional businesses that are in the city center but are not well-managed, transforming it into an office space may be a better way out." Dard & Bank's analysis has also been recognized by many commercial projects.
office buildings are missing and business is saturated. This transformation will continue in the future. Of course, not all cities are suitable for this path. "Tianjin's business is not suitable for changing office buildings, because Tianjin's office buildings are relatively full. Therefore, business transformation also varies from city to city," said Wang Yongping. Is the business of
20 okay?
is affected by e-commerce and overseas shopping, and the constraints of anti-corruption and integrity on card consumption, which has caused great challenges in commercial operations. The current business situation can be described as "ice and fire". Xidan Joy City , Wangfujing Yintai Department Store is a well-made commercial project. But there are also many poorly managed projects. Either the location is not suitable for business, or the business operation experience is lacking. Wang Yongping said this.
According to Xiao V, in the 1990s, many large shopping malls in Beijing opened in a concentrated manner. In addition to the above-mentioned COFCO Plaza (opened in 1996) and Zhuangsheng SOGO (opened in 1998), there is also Cuiwei Department Store, which opened in 1997 and Beijing Zhongyou Department Store, which opened in 1999.
Even earlier, Yansha Friendship Mall, which was built in a wheat field in 1992, was also in 1994, and Fuxingmen Parkson opened as Parkson's first department store to enter China.
In the past 20 years, these shopping malls have been adjusted to varying degrees to suit new consumer demand. Among them, Zhongyou Department Store was renamed Beijing Hanguang Department Store in 2013, and since 2014, it has carried out large-scale hardware transformation, introduced the world's top department store layout concept, and created a brand new shopping experience.
In recent years, the department store retail industry has lost its glory, and the continuous wave of store closures has continuously issued such warnings. Especially for commercial projects that have been operating for 20 years, urban renewal is a problem that must be faced, and cross-border and innovation have become the direction of many business transformation. COFCO Plaza and Zhuangsheng SOGO are taking this path, but how far they can go requires time to test.
"6·18" e-commerce festival is coming. While we are busy filling our shopping carts, we look around us and leave deep memories. How many old-fashioned businesses with a history of 20 years are there? Have they kept pace with the changing times?
Photography: Yuan Xiuli
Editor: Scheming editor
This article is original content of V real estate
Please do not reprint or use
