Chinese department operator Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group has opened its maiden store outside Fujian province in Nanjing.

The four-storey Nanjing Nanzhan Store of 361,000sqft is the group’s largest store and raises the group’s total gross floor area by 30 per cent to 1.563 million sqft. The new store is located next to the Nanjing South Railway Station.

The store is within the development area of the Nanjing Mingfa Commercial Centre, where the Nanjing municipal government aims to create a “one-stop shopping paradise” of over 4 million sqft, organised according to six different themes including lifestyle, family and global brands. This is part of a government plan to promote a mall-goer generation and heighten Nanjing Mingfa Commercial Centre’s status in the international commercial retail scene.

Located in a themed shopping arena packed with hotels, restaurants, cinema, entertainment and leisure facilities, the Nanjing Nanzhan store hopes to benefit from a large tourist crowd as well as locals. The new store targets middle to high income groups with a modern look and feel, featuring well-known local and overseas retail and F&B brands.

“Venturing out of Fujian province to break into Jiangsu province is an important step for our growth. As a local Fujian brand, we aim to elevate our brand awareness beyond Fujian with our new store in the capital of Jiangsu to bring in improved earnings for the group,” said Lee Swee Keng, executive chairman of Zhongmin Baihui.

The group has three stores in the pipeline: the Xiamen Zhongshan Store, Quanzhou Qiaonan Store and Zhangzhou Longwen Store, which are expected to open by the end of 2013 in Fujian province.

Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group opened its first store in 1997 in Anxi, Fujian. The group operates three self-owned stores and six managed stores under the Zhongmin Baihui name.

GB