Microcosms of the world, local malls, with their subcultures and social hierarchies, are often magnets for teens, who might frequent them for social over retail purposes.
Much like McDonald’s the world over, the majority of shopping malls today follow the same formula, which equals standalone shops plus food court plus cinema plus supermarket. To youth, the good ones might house a gaming arcade — something, anything to do in their carefree days.
Therein lies the problem: at what point does “tried and true” just become “tired”? If trends dip in and out from season to season and people change from one year to the next, what then inter-generationally?
Contrary to its contemporaries, many of which are stuck in a time loop, one shopping mall in Shanghai has been doing things differently since opening in December 2019.
Like many spaces in Shanghai, TX Huaihai Youth Energy Center has led several past lives, going from German electronics specialist MediaMarkt to Japanese department store Isetan. Unlike its predecessors, however, it had no pre-existing brand book to fall back on.
First timers at TX Huaihai might be forgiven for feeling a bit lost on their initial visit. Spaces seem to meld into each other in an open warehouse of a place outfitted with chrome surfaces and exposed beams. One might behold bold graffiti scrawled on curtained partitions, step around sculptures of cartoon characters perched upon staircases doubling as art pedestals, scratch one’s head over a queue that starts and ends for temporary art exhibitions, or ogle gaggles of schoolgirls getting very extra acrylic talons glued onto their real fingernails.
Visitors might not know it at the time, but TX Huaihai might be their first exposure to CUREtail, a portmanteau of the words curated and retail. The mall’s model paints a picture of what commercial complexes could look like the near future, with China taking the lead.
Much like Millennials, the first generation to really feed the experience economy, Gen Zers are on the prowl for creative stimuli, and commercial spaces are listening and catering.
Though one of a kind, Chinese identity is still very much a part of global culture, and by reimagining retail for a hyperconnected world, the mall has the potential to bridge cultural divides. Above all, TX Huaihai underscores that malls need not only be dedicated to buying and selling — they can provide meaningful experiences.
Since capturing the hearts of Chinese youth, TX Huaihai has steadily been gaining international attention via English-language media such as Medium andTime Out Shanghai, and stands to be a new must-visit destination in Shanghai. After all, China’s efforts to boost tourism, from optimizing visa and customs policies to resuming international flight routes and introducing easier means to access mobile payments, are already beginning to sow fruit — as seen in the recent wave of South Korean tourists visiting Shanghai.
