Xian shopping mall developers deliver improved leisure experience for customers
HNA Group, Taubman Asia and Wangfujing Group are all involved in ventures
Xian aims to diversify and increase tourists’ spending by developing large-scale leisure and shopping facilities.
Located in the upmarket Qujiang New District, the Great Tang All Day Mall features architectural designs modelled on buildings in the prosperous Tang dynasty (618-970 AD). Designed as the centrepiece of the cultural and commercial hub of Xian, the mall is intended to be the “largest and longest pedestrian street of tourist-landscaped and cultural shopping experiences in Asia”.
The shopping/entertainment development runs for 1,500 metres from north to south along Yanta South Road, from Xuanzang Square at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to the Tang Dynasty Relic Walls. From east to west, it measures 480 metres, running from Cien East Road to Cien West Road. Occupying 54,100 square metres, including a 19,000-square-metre underground parking lot, the sprawling project encompasses six city blocks and cost an estimated 3 billion yuan (HK$3.37 billion). The developer is mainland conglomerate HNA Group.
As a tribute to the Tang dynasty’s achievements that have had a profound influence on China’s culture, the mall in its landscaped gardens features nine groups of sculptures devoted to the period’s great leaders, monks, artists, writers, scholars, poets, scientists and mathematicians. Some of the main cultural and artistic buildings include Xian Grand Theatre, Xian Concert Hall, Shaanxi Art Gallery and Qujiang Cinema.
The shopping area consists of dozens of free-standing Tang-style commercial structures that integrate shopping, venues for leisure activities, performance and arts exhibitions and sightseeing, spread around the development interspersed with landscaped gardens, pavilions and canals. The shopping experience encompasses businesses targeting a cross-section of the consumer market: boutique speciality retailers, large supermarket chains, branded flagship stores, restaurants, and recreational venues for children.
A shopping centre catering to the fast-growing middle class, CityOn.Xian,opened in April 2016. A joint venture between Taubman Asia and Wangfujing Group, CityOn.Xian has seven levels of about 1 million sq ft, including 2,200 parking spaces.
The mall has direct connections to Metro Lines 2 and 4, as well as access to the Airport Expressway and High Speed Railway Station.
