Galeries Lafayette China plans to open its second location, in Shanghai, next year.
The French department store made its China debut in Beijing in 2013.
Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development says it has signed a letter of intent with Galeries Lafayette China to open a store covering 23,100 sqm in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area.
Galeries Lafayette China is a JV of Société Anonyme des Galeries Lafayette and Hong Kong’smultibrand fashion group I.T. A formal contract will be signed within three months.
Galeries Lafayette China was founded in September 2010 in Hong Kong with the remit of launching and running the brand’s department stores in China. Its Shanghai store will be in a new shopping mall in Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial and trade zone within 1km of 44 skyscrapers, including the 632m Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building and home to the Tomson Riviera apartments, which sell for up to RMB237,600 (US$35,462) a square metre. The area has more than 460,000 white-collar workers and more than 160,000 residents.
Meantime, Euromonitor International says that while the revenue of China’s department stores grew from RMB943.8 billion in 2012 to RMB994 billion last year, it expects the figure to slip to RMB904 billion by 2021.
