With the Qingming Festival and the upcoming May Day holiday approaching, major shopping centers are accelerating the pace of introducing new stores, attempting to leverage holiday traffic to boost commercial vitality. A recent analysis reveals a significant shift in the leasing strategies of Beijing's malls. Trendy toys, bookstores, and composite format stores are now emerging as large-scale establishments exceeding 1,000 square meters. Conversely, the food and beverage sector, once a primary driver of mall traffic, is widely transitioning towards smaller, more compact store formats.
Industry experts point out that large stores address the issue of insufficient footfall, while small shops enhance the conversion rate of that foot traffic. The combination of both can achieve a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts. This model can effectively increase the overall sales per square meter for malls, strengthen consumers' willingness to make repeat purchases, and form a sustainable commercial ecosystem.
The differentiation in store categories and sizes is particularly evident around the May Day holiday, a key period for a concentrated rollout of new stores in Beijing's malls. New store layouts in major commercial complexes show a clear category orientation, with a pronounced distinction between the positioning of large and small stores. Based on available data, newly introduced large stores in malls are predominantly focused on trendy toys, bookstores, and experience halls, while the food and beverage sector is generally shifting towards smaller formats.
For instance, since the launch of its spring renewal plan, one prominent mall has seen over 20 new and flagship stores open. Among these new brands, a flagship bookstore spans over 3,000 square meters, incorporating functions like a restaurant, perfumery, market, and cultural activity area. A trendy toy brand has established a global flagship store in a standalone outdoor building. In contrast, more than half of the new stores are in the food and beverage category, but most range from 100 to 300 square meters, a clear departure from the previous trend where F&B brands typically sought larger spaces.
Another major commercial project has introduced or plans to introduce 25 new stores. Nearly 40% of these new and upcoming stores are food and beverage brands, while retail categories like apparel, variety stores, and electronics account for 36%. Notably, the project introduced a large-scale science experience center covering 3,700 square meters, significantly increasing the proportion of experiential consumption. Stores concentrated in the 30 to 130 square meter range are primarily focused on food, beverages, and retail, mostly high-frequency consumption formats.
This trend extends beyond these two locations. In another popular shopping district, optimization and upgrades continue, focusing on top luxury standalone flagship stores, debut stores, and designer brands. Large-format stores are concentrated in the northern area, mostly in standalone spaces, such as a four-level flagship store creating an immersive experience space for high jewelry and watches. Smaller stores, around 100 square meters, predominantly consist of boutiques and pop-up shops, mainly located in the southern area, featuring brands like oriental light luxury jewelry and high-end sportswear pop-ups.
The "downsizing" trend in the food and beverage sector is becoming increasingly apparent. Previously, mall restaurants were predominantly large, ranging from 200-300 square meter hot pot spots and family-style restaurants to thousand-square-meter buffets, serving as key traffic drivers. Now, many chain restaurants are reducing their mall footprint, compressing store sizes to under 100 square meters, with some fast food and specialty snack formats even adopting "micro-stores" of just几十 square meters, shifting towards a "grab-and-go" efficient model.
This shift reflects a博弈 between experiential demand and essential needs. The contraction of traditional F&B and apparel retail into smaller stores indicates a turn from "scale expansion" to "lean operations." Brands are testing smaller formats focused on delivery and quick-service scenarios. Conversely, the expansion of large stores for sports/outdoor gear and trendy IPs represents a leap from "selling products" to "building communities," as these activities require physical space for community events and social interaction.
The differentiation in Beijing's mall leasing is not accidental but results from the combined effect of various sectors' development needs, capital flows, and the market environment. Leasing managers now prefer innovative formats and brands with strong experiences, high traffic, and high话题度, focusing on trendy toys/culture, unique F&B, light meals/beverages, new retail, lifestyle, and immersive experiences. Priority is given to regional or national debut stores, exclusive concept stores, and new sub-brands from established groups or emerging brands with inherent IP appeal and community bases. Shopping centers also value a brand's ability to create scenes, foster social sharing, and sustain operations.
Current consumer trends show a parallel pursuit of personal indulgence and rationality. Structural trends are reshaping China's retail landscape. By 2025, the proportion of new tenants in mall wellness-related categories is expected to rise. "Mind and body wellness" sectors like sports/outdoor, wellness massage, and meditation are expanding against the trend, with offline sports communities becoming a key consumption driver. Simultaneously, "affordable luxury"消费, represented by gold jewelry, perfumes, and limited-edition trendy toys, serves as an important outlet for emotional value, characterized by low unit price and high frequency, with significant area growth projected.
Luxury and leading sportswear brands are accelerating offline optimization, closing underperforming stores while heavily investing in landmark locations in core cities to open experiential flagship stores with景观 significance. These "large stores" are not just sales spaces but embodiments of brand vision and sources of PR buzz, bringing powerful customer-gathering effects to malls.
The primary driver is the场景化升级 of consumer demand. Composite large stores are essentially an extension of the "third space." They create dwell time through immersive experiences, turning consumption into "content consumption." Their efficiency relies not on high transaction frequency but on high average spend and social dissemination. In contrast, for traditional sectors like F&B and apparel, consumer decision-making is quick, repurchase rates are high, and the small-store model sufficiently covers demand while reducing trial-and-error costs.
Furthermore, dual pressures from rent and cash flow accelerate this brand differentiation. Rents in core business districts remain high, putting pressure on the gross margins of F&B and apparel categories, prompting brands to adopt "small store, fast turnover" strategies to lower fixed costs. Conversely, sectors like sports/outdoor and trendy IPs have higher margins and strong experiential溢价, enabling them to bear the cost of large stores in exchange for brand image and member loyalty.
The current leasing differentiation in Beijing's malls is not a short-term marketing adjustment but an inevitable evolution as the city's commercial market matures. Operating a large store requires strong content management capabilities to maintain热度 through curation and events, while small shops pursue极致人效 and standardized replication. The requirements for staffing, supply chain, and digitalization differ significantly, often forcing brands to choose one path.
Under the dual effects of consumption stratification and demand differentiation, market players with strong content creation and deep customer operation capabilities are gradually building core competencies to withstand cycles. The future retail landscape will not be judged by scale alone but will undergo a value reshuffle围绕 three dimensions: "scene experience power," "brand content power," and "space flexibility."
The current changes in Beijing's commercial scene indicate a core shift from "scale-oriented" to "value-oriented" strategies. Malls are no longer pursuing "large and comprehensive" formats but focusing on "refined and superior" ones. Clear trends are emerging, with three major categories poised for集中爆发.
For large-format业态, pet-friendly composite spaces, outdoor lifestyle集合 stores, and AI smart experience stores are key directions. These formats deeply align with the demand for short micro-getaways, offering both experiential and social media-worthy attributes, effectively capturing holiday traffic and becoming important tools for malls to attract crowds.
Small-store业态 focus on high-turnover, strong-repurchase categories like specialty coffee, healthy light meals, perfumes/personal care, and anime周边. Their moderate price points and quick purchase decisions allow them to efficiently fill traffic gaps between large stores, suitable for daily high-frequency and impulse consumption scenarios.
Simultaneously, curator-led brands are becoming new favorites in mall leasing. Their advantages—flexible size, distinct brand identity, and vibrant content operation—effectively counter mall homogenization, becoming key to enhancing commercial quality and differentiated competitiveness.
Strategically, malls can plan thematic zones, placing composite large stores in core positions and linking them with surrounding small业态 to form a consumption flow loop. Cross-brand collaborations can promote interaction between large-store IPs and small-store products, boosting overall话题度. For content operation, hosting exhibitions and salons around large stores gathers客流, which is then directed to small formats for conversion. Unified marketing campaigns during holidays, offering combined promotions, can encourage cross-store spending.
Through scene integration and traffic sharing, large stores solve the problem of insufficient客流, while small shops enhance conversion rates, achieving a 1+1>2 effect. This model effectively提升 the mall's overall坪效, strengthens consumer repurchase intention, and forms a sustainable commercial ecosystem.
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