Shanghai image as fancy retail center is all show
Amid the towering glass-and-steel splendor of the Plaza 66 mall -- packed with boutiques offering Dior, Prada, Cartier and other luxury brands -- shop clerk Xu Junyuan idly scratched his head as a lone shopper browsed the deserted aisles.
"I'm just bored," said Xu, who works at the Diesel jeans boutique.
At Fendi, black-suited clerks yawned as they propped themselves against counters. At the palatial Louis Vuitton shop next door, a 7-foot-tall plasma television played to no one.
In this populous city of fanatical shoppers, Plaza 66 is what some locals call a "gui gouwu zhongxin" -- a ghost mall.
The prices are so high that no one buys much. But then, no one really cares.
The real Chinese high-end spending is taking place in Hong Kong and in smaller mainland cities such as Dalian and Shenyang in the north.
Just as Stalin erected Potemkin villages to display the glories of communism to outsiders, Shanghai is creating its own illusion of prosperity out of the world's most luxurious brands.
"I'm just bored," said Xu, who works at the Diesel jeans boutique.
At Fendi, black-suited clerks yawned as they propped themselves against counters. At the palatial Louis Vuitton shop next door, a 7-foot-tall plasma television played to no one.
In this populous city of fanatical shoppers, Plaza 66 is what some locals call a "gui gouwu zhongxin" -- a ghost mall.
The prices are so high that no one buys much. But then, no one really cares.
The real Chinese high-end spending is taking place in Hong Kong and in smaller mainland cities such as Dalian and Shenyang in the north.
Just as Stalin erected Potemkin villages to display the glories of communism to outsiders, Shanghai is creating its own illusion of prosperity out of the world's most luxurious brands.
posted by Brian at 9:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home