A Shanghai shopping mall that hoped to capitalize on the mania for Hong Kong brands has been forced to restructure after failing to attract customers.

It reopened this week with a wider range of offerings and a host of new restaurants and other attractions.

Backed by an investment of 300 million yuan (US$38 million), the Shanghai Hong Kong and Macau Shopping Mall opened at the end of 2004 in southwest Shanghai's Xinzhuang area.

The mall owners had hoped to attract customers with zero-tariff brands from Hong Kong and Macau, taking advantage of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the Chinese mainland and the two special administrative regions.

The 36,000-square-meter shopping mall failed to attract many Shanghai shoppers, however.

"We found later that people prefer to travel to Hong Kong for lower-priced top brands to visiting malls like ours," said mall official Zhu Xianglin.

"At times, there were only dozens of customers visiting the mall, so we had to do something to reverse its lackluster performance."

The latest revamp, which cost 10 million yuan, reduced Hong Kong and Macau brands - mostly apparel - from the original 70 percent of the total product mix to 10 percent, she said.

"We also brought a Darunfa Supermarket into the shopping mall in September to attract more customers," she said, adding that daily customers to the supermarket have reached 10,000.

The mall also added Western restaurants and bars to cater to overseas residents living in Xinzhuang and opened a 1,880-square-meter facility for promoting the development of children's intelligence with novel toys and equipment, she said.

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