Real estate developer's outlet center a major attraction for high-end brands and wealthy Chinese

At the counter of a Prada outlet store in the Florentia Village in Wuqing, Tianjin, a 33-year-old businessman from Beijing waited as a saleswoman wrapped up a red orange purse and a pair of men's shoes. Total cost: about 11,500 yuan ($1,816, 1,434 euros). Behind him another two men were waiting to pay.

The man, who would only identify himself as Liu, says the bag is for his girlfriend and that the prices were at a 30-percent discount. Still, he had hoped the prices would be lower.

He says he arrived here by high-speed train from Beijing and frequents the shopping center with his girlfriend.

"You can tell the amazing purchasing power of Chinese people from the long queues at the doors of the most famous brands here. Several times, my girlfriend and I had to wait for 40 minutes to one hour in order to get in some of these shops," says Liu, pointing at the shops of high-end brands such as Versace, Fendi, Tod's, Burberry and Prada.

Like Liu, many people from Beijing, downtown Tianjin and North China's Hebei province have come to shop at Florentia Village, the outlet mall from Italian luxury real estate developer and fashion retailer RDM and US conglomerate Waitex.

Florentia Village sits across the road facing the Wuqing Railway Station, which takes 20 minutes to reach from Beijing, and 10 minutes from Tianjin.

Many international and domestic premium brands can be found here. Some are exclusive luxury brands that cannot be found in any other outlet in China or in Asia. These brands usually carry products that came out during the previous season. Discounts range from 30 to 70 percent.

"We offer a qualified and high level shopping environment. The results in the last 11 months were very encouraging and well beyond our highest expectations. Total sales in the last 11 months is in the range of 1 billion yuan," says Ivano Poma, chairman and CEO of Florentia Village and managing director of RDM Asia.

Construction of Florentia Village started in January 2010. More than a billion yuan was invested in the complex, which covers 60,000 square meters.

"We foresee that in the holiday seasons we will exceed 100,000 visitors per week," Poma says.

Women between the ages of 33 and 45 are the most prominent and affluent clients.

"Luxury goods, particularly accessories of the most famous world brands are very much in demand in this season," Poma says.

The second-phase of construction has been completed and fully leased to fashion, sportswear and footwear brands as well as to food and beverage vendors. The village is designed to house nearly 200 stores. Currently there are 128 brands that have opened stores with four more to open in June.

As RDM's first outlet center in China, the Florentia Village presents itself as a romantic Italian shopping getaway.

"Being an Italian company, we normally use our architectural heritage to build our centers, which combines an intense and calibrated brand-mix with the original experience of shopping in a typical Italian style outdoor environment," Poma says. "We offer an 'Italian destination in China.'"

The outlet store's main target customers are the newly affluent in China, who are aspiring to higher living standards, Poma says.

"We noticed, however, the very rich in China exploring our lanes during weekdays in search of products they may have missed from last season," he adds.

On a sunny Thursday morning in May, shoppers were strolling leisurely in the village with cameras and shopping bags in their hands. The center is designed with an old Italian style of architecture, with spires, a Coliseum-like building and Florentine arcades.

"The customer flow has grown to 80,000 every week from between 8,000 and 24,000 eight months ago," says Poma, who expects revenue in the first year to largely surpass its target of 1 billion yuan.

"We are very satisfied with our investment and we are planning to build more Florentia villages in China. We may also explore the possibility of building adjacent hospitality facilities such as hotels, apartments and conference centers," he says.

In the next two years, RDM is going to open another two shopping centers, similar to the Florentia Village, in Shanghai and Chongqing. In five years, RDM says there will be five of its shopping centers in China, with locations not limited to top-tier cities.

"They will still be located in suburban, green and clean areas with convenient access and transportation," Poma says.

"We plan to use, as our source of inspiration to reproduce the Italian lifestyle in China, architecture from other cities in Italy so that every Florentia Village will represent a unique visual and lifestyle experience."

Poma says "we are ready to develop more centers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities".

Li Xiang contributed to this story.

yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/25/2012 page11)