On the Road to Asia

While headlines toll the death knell for indoor shopping malls, and social media sites revel in sharing post-apocalyptic images of abandoned monoliths, I find it a bit premature to bury the stake. At least, not in China. There, malls sprout like beards on Brooklyn hipsters.

Chinese cities account for more than half of mall space now under construction worldwide, according to CBRE (Los Angeles), a commercial real estate services firm. In 2015, China will be home to an estimated 4000 shopping malls. Overall retail sales grew by 12 percent in 2014, according to the China National Bureau of Statistics. Online sales grew by 49.7 percent.

And, while prognosticators warn of a China real estate bubble poised to burst – due to overexpansion, among other factors – demographic and economic forces, including rising household and disposable income, support brick-and-mortar development.

With retailers and suppliers beating a path to exploit opportunities in China, it’s no surprise that a new tradeshow has been created to serve this market. Messe Düsseldorf, organizer of EuroShop – the triennial international event for the retail design industry – will soon debut C-star (May 13-15), Shanghai’s international trade fair “for solutions and trends all about retail.” Supported by the China National Commercial Information Center, the Retail Conference portion of the event will feature renowned ceos and professionals from the retail sector, in educational sessions and an on-site discussion forum.

VMSD will travel to the show as the exclusive media partner of asia a go go, an outgrowth of the euro a go go group of North American retailers and designers who’ve shared past EuroShop experiences. This will be a select event for top executives from key retailers, as well as architectural and design firms. Participants in this inaugural Asian installment will tour Shanghai, a booming retail megalopolis, before traveling on to Seoul, home to global companies and a thriving luxury market.

For more information on C-star, including online registration, visit c-star-expo.com. For more information on asia a go go, visit euro-a-gogo.com/asiaagogo.html.

I’m excited to share these events with you, both in print and online, and to connect you with the key players in our industry, at the forefront of this great international expansion.