Year of reform for Tianjin’s retail market in 2022: report

The market is expected to welcome four new retail property projects in 2022.

The retail market in Tianjin, one of China’s national central cities, is set to see its year of reforming in 2022, with several new project openings bringing new vitality to the market, according to a report from Savills.

Tianjin retail market is expected to welcome four new projects this year, namely Heping Incity located in Nanjing-Binjiang-Heping Road of the prime retail area and Gem Mall, Joy Breeze and Wangfujing Mall situated in the non-prime areas, which will contribute a new supply of 573,000 sqm gross floor area (GFA).

As one of the key renovated retail projects of Heping Road, the traditional commercial street in Tianjin, Heping Incity will be renovated to a commercial complex based on an aged site of the previous location with Parkson, Walmart, Gome and Wanda Cinema. It is expected to revitalise retail and boost consumption in the traditional prime area, Savills said.

“Moreover, the city’s inclusion among the first pilot cities for the establishment of international consumption centres is expected to bring benefits to the retail upgrade. The retail market will continue to realize consumption transformation and upgrading,” the report stated.

In the first 11 months of 2021, Tianjin’s retail sales climbed 5.7% YoY, with sales of sports and entertainment rising 29.6% YoY, cosmetics jumping 27.5% YoY, jewellery surging 40% YoY and new energy automobiles soaring 66.7% YoY.

During the National Day holidays, 216 retail enterprises supervised by the Municipal Bureau of Commerce achieved a turnover of $41.10m (RMB260m), a 11.8% growth YoY and an 11.6% rise compared with 2019.

Three new projects entered in Q4 2021, all located in Binhai New Area, bringing a new supply of 357,600 sqm GFA. With the newly launched Binhai Wuyue Plaza, Gem Mall, and Aegean shopping mall, the total shopping mall stock pushed up to 4.35 million sqm GFA by end-2021.

The shopping mall first-floor average monthly rent also stood at $51.69 (RMB327.3) per sqm, with the rental index lifting 1% QoQ but dropping 3.3% YoY. Submarkets including Heping-Binjiang-Nanjing Road, Youyi Road and Binhai Teda saw increases in rents.

The first-floor rent of Heping-Binjiang-Nanjing Road remained the highest throughout the city, with the rental index up 1.0% QoQ and down 0.5% YoY. The rental index of Youyi Road also rose 4.8% QoQ, while Binhai Teda’s rents climbed 1.1% QoQ, though falling by 2.8% YoY. Rents of Laochengxiang, Xiaobailou and Binhai Yujiapu areas stayed steady.

Then prime retail area vacancy rate fell by 2.1 ppts QoQ to 19.5%, though it was still an increase of 4.2 ppts YoY. All non-prime submarkets in the main city also saw declines in vacancy rates.