Asia Pacific Business Review

Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2009, 123–135

Two Asian malls: urban shopping centre development in Singapore

and Japan
Hendrik Meyer-Ohle*

Department of Japanese Studies, The National University of Singapore, Singapore

( Received 25 January 2008; final version received 22 May 2008 )

While the development of shopping centres has reached a certain degree of saturation
in the US and in Europe, shopping centre development in Asia is progressing rapidly.
This study looks at this development by introducing two recently opened urban
shopping malls, one in Singapore and one in Tokyo. The opening of both malls has
received a lot of attention, with both malls being seen as milestones in the shopping
centre development of their respective countries. This study explores the factors
underlying this development and concludes that factors that need to be taken into
account are the redevelopment of city spaces, the emergence of strong shopping centre
developers, and especially the emergence of powerful tenant chain operators, many of
which handle multiple brands and have begun operating store networks across Asia.
Keywords: Japan; Singapore; retailing; shopping centres; urban development

Introduction
The rapid development of shopping centres is one, if not the most important current trends
in Asian retailing. This development is not just quantitative, but involves qualitative
advances in mall concepts and tenant mix, as well as mall management. This study
explores these developments and underlying factors by looking at two urban malls opened
relatively recently, one in Singapore and one in Japan.
Singapore has been developing shopping malls for some time (Yap 1996), but saw a
slow down in the opening of new malls after the Asian economic crisis of 1997. Recently,
however, a number of new malls have opened and these malls are increasingly competing
with those along the traditional shopping belt of the Orchard Road area. Since the 1990s,
Japan is undergoing what can only be described as a shopping centre boom. From a
situation, where most shopping centres were comparatively small and heavily focused on
or even run by one anchor tenant (Meyer-Ohle 2003), shopping centres have developed
into more independent retail environments. Developers who initially focused on green
field sites outside of the cities, are increasingly also looking at urban grey field locations
and as such, the development of shopping centres is playing an important role within the
redevelopment of Japanese cities.
For each country, a recently opened large urban shopping mall will be introduced, both
of them the largest in their respective cities so far (Table 1). In Singapore, VivoCity
opened in October 2006 as a 140,000 square metres (m2) mall with 300 tenants. Slightly

*Email: meyerohle@nus.edu.sg

ISSN 1360-2381 print/ISSN 1743-792X online

q 2009 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13602380802399445
http://www.informaworld.com
124 H. Meyer-Ohle

Table 1. VivoCity and Urban Dock LalaPort in comparison.

VivoCity Urban Dock LaLaport Toyosu

Developer † Mapletree (Developer) Mitsui Fudōsan
† CapitaLand (Retail Development
Manager)
Architect Toyo Ito (Japan) John Low (US) Daniel Ost (Belgium)
Garden Design
2
Size (m ) 139,354 165,037
Retail floor size (m2) 93,000 62,000
Parking (spaces) 2,179 2,200
Public transport Subway station, bus interchange, Subway station, monorail station,
tourist monorail to Sentosa tourist excursion boats
Island, cruise centre
Floors 3 storeys, 2 basements 5 floors, 1 basement, 3 floors retail
Number of stores Approx. 300 Approx. 183
Development costs S$417 million n.a.
Annual targeted sales n.a. ¥ 31 billion
Annual targeted n.a. 13 million
number of visitors

later, in November 2006, Urban Dock Lalaport Toyosu, with 165,000 m2 and with 183
tenants, officially opened its doors in Tokyo.
Both malls defy conventional shopping centre categorizations. Based on lettable sales
area alone, VivoCity would be classified as a super regional centre and Lalaport Toyosu as
a very large regional one. However, based on the number of stores, both centres would
make the super regional category. Classifying the two centres based on the existence of
department stores as anchor tenants would complicate the categorization further. Toyosu
mall has no clear anchor tenant. VivoCity has several larger tenants, among them an
upscale department store of reduced size. However, none of them is iconic enough to
provide strong enough identification for the whole mall.
The two malls, as well as the two cities, were chosen for the following reasons.
First, Singapore and Tokyo feature a comparable level of economic and urban development.
Both cities are densely inhabited, and for the residents of both cities shopping has become an
important if not the major leisure activity. Secondly, the two malls share some interesting
similarities in terms of location, size and concept, with both malls being in urban waterfront
locations and both developments being conceptualized as lifestyle malls. Thirdly, looking at
two malls opened at, approximately, the same time opens avenues for future longitudinal and
comparative studies.

Literature review and research propositions

Shopping centres and the shopping centre industry have for a while been a popular topic in
academic research (for an international overview, see Dawson 1983), however interest
seems to have somewhat waned recently. This has to do with a lack of spectacular new
openings during recent years in Europe and the US, with developers finding it difficult to
locate new sites. In addition, there seems to be a certain degree of disillusionment with the
large-sized integrated mall format as such. It has been criticized that the design features of
malls and their tenants mix have become largely identical. At the same time, it has been
noted that shoppers are increasingly looking for community or experience and cannot find
 Asia Pacific Business Review 125

this in the current mall formats. Finally, some retail companies such as Wal-Mart have
come up with comprehensive one destination stores, set to fulfil all shopping needs
(Jacob 1999, Nicholls et al. 2002), while other more specialized retailers are developing
big box stores in less integrated settings such as strip or outlet malls. Interest has
increasingly shifted away from the shopping mall, to the creation or recreation of other
shopping environments, such as town centres or the development of smaller community-
based formats such as lifestyle centres.
While shopping mall development in Singapore has received some attention in the
academic literature, nearly no information is available in English on Japan and even a
search of the Japanese literature did not turn up much information. For Singapore, Yap
(1996) describes general trends in retailing and in doing so already identifies tendencies in
mall development that still continue today, such as bolder design, greater specialization,
greater control of developers over space and more entertainment-based offerings.
Moscove and Fletcher (2001) look at the retail scene in Singapore during the 1990s and, in
the wake of the Asian economic crisis, arrive at a rather pessimistic conclusion, talking
about overstoring and pointing to the need for shopping centres to diversify and specialize.
Fatt (2001) looked at shoppers in malls linked to a mass rail transit (subway) station and
has found a high frequency of mall visits paired with a relatively low amount of money
spent per visit. Ibrahim and Wee (2002) found that transport factors play a major role in
determining an enjoyable shopping experience in Singapore. Later Ibrahim, this time with
McGoldrick (Ibrahim and McGoldrick 2006), investigated the implications of car
ownership on factors affecting shopping centre choice in Singapore and found that there
are significant differences between car owners and non-car owners. Finally, Ooi and Sim
(2007) looked at shoppers in suburban malls and especially the attractiveness of
cineplexes, a feature in nearly every larger shopping mall in Singapore these days.
For Japan, shopping malls are a topic largely overlooked by academia. No recent
journal publication on shopping malls in English could be found, and the same also seems to
be true for academic publications in Japanese. Larke and Causton (2005) in their recent book,
Japan: A modern retail superpower only dedicate two pages to shopping malls and in their
very short overview paint a somewhat ambiguous picture. On the one hand they acknowledge
the growth of this format and the availability of sites for future development, on the other hand,
however, voicing their scepticism, as to whether Japanese consumers would really be all that
inclined towards visiting large-scale shopping complexes. This, however, somewhat seems
to ignore the fact that shopping centres by now account for about 21% of Japan’s retail sales
and 30% of retail space (Japan Council of Shopping Centers 2006). A rare article on shopping
centres in Japanese by Nakada and Kajiura (2006) points out the importance of the
rapid development of shopping centres in Japan. Providing a general overview of the situation,
the article especially points at potential conflicts between tenants and developers of shopping
malls, with both sides having gained considerable strength during recent years.
This study investigates a number of points with regards to shopping centre
development in Singapore and Japan, with the discussion of the two malls focusing on two
propositions:

1. Mall development in both countries is increasingly driven by strong, independent

mall developers. These developers differentiate their malls and experiment with
concepts where anchor tenants play a lesser role.
2. Related to the above, mall developers increasingly find strong counterparts in
quickly growing tenant chains that are often operating a variety of stores in the
same shopping centre and are also developing their activities internationally.
126 H. Meyer-Ohle

These two propositions have received various degrees of interest in the academic literature
so far.
Howard (1997) discussed the relationships between developers and tenants under the
aspect of conflict or collaboration. She arrives at two opposing models of shopping centre
management, one being characterized as property-led and the other one as customer-led.
Developers, who follow the property-led approach leverage on the opportunities that the
site itself offers, try to maximize individual lettings, and provide basic maintenance of the
shopping centre. Contrasting that, developers who follow the customer-led approach base
their concepts on customer needs, look at optimizing total returns for retailers and
developers, and try to maintain an overall coherent performance among tenants in terms of
customer services. Howard sees a lot of potential in the latter approach, however,
acknowledges that it is not easy to put into practice, and therefore points to information
sharing as a crucial success factor.
Only very few articles have addressed the developmental patterns between malls
and tenant chains. Geographers Marston and Modarres (2002) look at the development
of apparel retailer Gap and argue that the company has diversified its retail formats,
coming up with new formats for new locations in response to the declining importance
of the mall in the US. Such findings point to an interesting difference in timing
between developments in the US and Asia. Intensive mall development in the US to a
certain degree preceded the development of highly integrated fashion tenant chains in
the US, while mall development in Asia is taking place at a time when tenant chains
are at their strongest, having come up with flexible quick response concepts of
procurement, store design and management, with some Asian companies like Giordano
even having received recognition for being at the forefront of this development
(Richardson 1996).
Looking at the institutional issues of mall development in Asia, the most detailed study
is probably by Wang et al. (2006) who look at the extremely dynamic development of the
retail market in Shanghai. They find that it is Asian, and not American or European
developers, that are driving this sector with, besides companies from Hong Kong, actors
from Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore also participating. They report that mall developers
from the various countries often seem to display a preference for a certain type of mall
format, such as free standing or integrated into a larger complex.

Methodology
For this case study the following methodology was employed. Data collection for the two
cases was based on available data published in newspapers and industry journals, or that
released by retail companies or shopping centre developers themselves. As has already
been mentioned, both malls were greeted enthusiastically by the media and a surprising
amount of information became available within a relatively short period of time.
In addition, site visits were conducted. The mall in Singapore was visited on several
occasions, while the Toyosu mall was visited several times during a research trip in
December 2006 and again during another trip in February 2007. For comparison, a number
of other malls in both countries were also visited.
Since the malls were visited at a very early stage, this study will mainly focus on the
intention of mall developers and tenants, taking up concepts of developers, the design of
the malls and their tenant composition, both crucial points for new shopping centres to
establish a reputation and draw shoppers away from their existing shopping destinations
(Kirkup and Rafiq 1994, Bruwer 1997).
 Asia Pacific Business Review 127

The data will be presented and discussed as follows. Each mall will first be
introduced based on its location, design features and mix of tenants. For each mall some
tenants will be introduced in more detail. This is followed by an overview of the
developers’ concepts. The discussion and conclusion section will bring findings together
and point out avenues for future research.

Urban Dock LaLaport Toyosu

Location and demographics
Toyosu Mall is located in a former industrial waterfront location in the east of Tokyo.
The area is linked to the centre of Tokyo by a subway line, is only a five minute ride to Ginza,
as well as having a monorail that crosses Tokyo Bay. The monorail connects the mall with
Odaiba, a close-by entertainment, office, hotel and leisure area that was developed about
10 years ago and is popular with Tokyo’s weekend crowds. The mall is part of a 9.7 ha area
that was formerly occupied by a wharf and is in the process of being redeveloped as a mixed
residential, shopping and office area. While the shopping centre has been completed, many
of the residential buildings are still under construction. Eventually, up to 15,000 upscale
apartments in high-rise blocks will house 22,000 residents, many of them expected to be
couples in their thirties with children, but the area could also become an attractive choice for
elderly couples looking for a convenient lifestyle close to the city. In addition, the
neighbouring area already has a daytime working population of about 33,000 people, with
many technology oriented companies having set up their headquarters here. The mall should
also be able to draw shoppers from further afield due to its attractive waterfront location,
favourable transport situation and some of the key tenants not having shops of comparable
size in the larger area. A population of 660,000 people already live within a five kilometre
(km) radius, within a 10 km radius this increases to 3.06 million people (Chain Store Age
2006a, Kakikawa 2006).

Layout
The layout of the shopping mall is U-shaped with the building encircling a large
landscaped courtyard with water frontage. Developing the theme of a waterfront dock,
four inner buildings are in the shape of ships docking in a harbour. The main building is
complemented by a rather squarish and utilitarian annex building that houses a food
supermarket, a large sports and fitness centre, a large internet café, and much of the
parking space. The courtyard is surrounded by dining outlets with outside seating. Near the
waterfront, a small docking area has been preserved and is now being used by regular
excursion ships that link the area with other waterfront areas in Tokyo. An area within the
courtyard is used for a dog run.
The interior of the mall is done up relatively elaborately with wooden flooring on the
ground level and carpeting on the second and third floor. A centrepiece of the mall is an
original nineteenth century pipe organ, imported from England and played regularly during
the day. The mall developers have arranged comfortable seating throughout the mall.
The mall is zoned into a number of areas. Clearly distinguishable are one for children
related products and one for home furnishing and decoration. Complementing the
restaurants surrounding the courtyard is a substantial cluster of restaurants on the third floor.

Tenant mix
The mall does not feature a general merchandising or department store which makes
it unique among shopping centres in Japan. Tokyu Hands, selling lifestyle accessories,
128 H. Meyer-Ohle

home furnishing and do-it-yourself supplies, is the largest tenant. While occupying two
floors of the north wing, this store still only accounts for 5% of the total retail space. Other
large tenants are furniture and interior design retailers, Marui (in the Room), Actus and
Franc and the simple design, no label chain Muji, all placed on the south side of the mall,
far away from Tokyu Hands, probably with the aim to create traffic between the two sides.
The mall developers have dedicated a lot of space to leisure activities and restaurants.
The third floor is on one side anchored by Kidzania, a work experience miniature town for
children and, on the other side, a 12 screen cinema complex by United Cinemas with
seating for about 1,800 people. Other facilities are a cooking school, and a permanent
Ukiyoe (woodblock prints) exhibition in a small separate building in the courtyard which
also offers drawing classes. The mall has a large number of restaurants, some of them
sharing a food court setting on the third level. Looking at the composition of stores, the
mall was opened with 51 stores for men and women’s fashion, 22 stores for decorative
items and accessories, 35 stores for home and lifestyle goods, 10 stores focusing on
children, 42 restaurants and 27 outlets offering a variety of services.
Japanese shopping malls have become a catalyst for the development of foreign
specialist retailers in Japan and here the Toyosu mall is no exception, featuring brands
such as J. Crew, HMV, Gap, Timberland, L.L. Bean, Tommy Hilfiger, Swatch, Arnold
Palmer Timeless, Triumph International, Bornelund, Helly Hansen, Laura Ashley Home,
and Vixtorinox. While some of the shops are run directly by the brand owners, others are
run by Japanese licensees. However, apart from foreign brands, the mall also features a
large number of home grown brands, many of which have shown rapid growth during
recent years. These include brands like Uniqlo or Muji, which have already received some
recognition outside of Japan, but also many lesser known brands such as Global Work,
Kofi Collect or Ingni.

Developer’s intentions
The Toyosu Mall is operated by Mitsui Fudōsan, an operator of 47 malls in Japan with a
total lettable floor area of 860,000 m2. Representatives from Mitsui Fudōsan have
described their concepts in some detail in interviews with Japan’s specialist retail
industry journals. Going by these reports, the focus of the mall on children and home
interiors is based on the expected development of the residential population in the area.
Instead of having to rely continuously on drawing people from a large catchment area,
the mall developers were looking for a sustainable concept and therefore decided to
focus on the needs of people living in the direct neighbourhood of the mall. Due to the
relative high prices of apartments, the targeted customers are relatively affluent young
families with children who are looking at furnishing their new flats, dressing their
children fashionably, or at providing them with the latest educational toys and services.
Another targeted group are older, comfortably retired couples looking for new eating
experiences, or pet owners who move to the area in order to be able to walk their dogs in
the attractive new parks along the waterfront (Kakikawa 2006). Key themes and concepts
mentioned by the developers are ‘relaxing/feeling at home (kutsurogu), enriching
(uruou), and playing (asobu)’ (Chain Store Age 2006a). The developers also use the
words of Life, Solution and Community, and hope that the mall will be able to attract
visitors, who will not just come to the stores to buy daily goods that they require but are
looking to express themselves. By doing so, they will eventually adopt the mall as a third
space for community and communication in addition to their work places and homes
(Kakikawa 2006).
 Asia Pacific Business Review 129

To achieve all this, Mitsui Fudōsan reports that it has selected its tenants carefully for
their overall contribution to the mall and has also extended some financial help to tenants
that were perceived as valuable for the mall’s overall development. The company has also
developed a customer membership scheme for the mall for use throughout the shops and
has even reported early findings, for example that people who use pet trimming services
have also been visiting Gap to buy jeans and casual clothing. While many other mall
operators are asking dispatch agencies to provide mall assistants, Mitsui Fudōsan made
known that it uses its own carefully trained staff to guide and advise customers and that it
is also engaged in providing training to tenants’ shop assistants. The aim is to create an
atmosphere of hospitality with no single shop spoiling the overall image. Other services
include free delivery of goods to the home of customers for certain products and also
porter service to the car park. Finally, the mall offers to accompany children safely back to
the apartment building in the neighbourhood (Kakikawa 2006). Indeed, during the mall
visits there was a remarkable presence of support staff engaged in guiding customers,
cleaning and maintaining the premises or controlling traffic around the mall.
However, despite all those features, the concept of Toyosu Mall has also met with some
scepticism. The main question asked is whether the mall will be able to attract customers on
a regular basis under the week and not just only on weekends (Chain Store Age 2006a).
Kakikawa (2006) remarks that industry onlookers have noticed that while each of the stores
displays a high degree of specialization, it is not clear what will really sink into the mind of
consumers and for what the Toyosu mall will eventually become known. Most stores in the
mall do not draw repeat visitors on a frequent basis and it will have to be seen whether the
few stores and services with a high usage frequency will be able to draw enough customers,
so that the centre really manages to become the core of the newly evolving community in its
neighbourhood. Indeed, when visited during weekdays, the mall, though opened only
relatively recently, was only sparsely populated and it needs to be seen whether this will
change once the residential developments in the neighbourhood will be completed.

VivoCity Singapore
Location and demographics
VivoCity is located in a waterfront location opposite Sentosa Island. The area used to be
industrial and harbour front property, but had been redeveloped early on into the Singapore
Cruise Centre together with office buildings and a smaller shopping centre and exhibition
space. The exhibition space of the complex was torn down and construction of the mall started
in 2004. VivoCity is connected to a subway station that allows access to Orchard Road and the
major shopping hub around SuntecCity in about 10 minutes. VivoCity will also become the
main access point for the resort island of Sentosa, being the starting point for the monorail that
connects the island. This link will become of major importance since Singapore is developing
part of the island into a major integrated resort and casino and Universal Studio Entertain-
ment Park. Close to VivoCity are some major public housing estates as well as private
condominiums. The main business and financial district is also close by. Finally, the shopping
centre is very well linked to Singapore’s major expressway that links the East and the West of
the island and thereby makes the shopping centre easily accessible by car, with travel time
from most locations in Singapore being no more than 30 minutes.

Layout
VivoCity was designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, who created a low rise mall with
only three floors above ground and two basement floors in a curvy and open shape that
130 H. Meyer-Ohle

stretches for 300 metres along the waterfront. The mall developers describe the concept in
their fact sheet as being based on a ‘surfing’ theme, bringing together images of waves and
the sea. The architect is cited as having wanted to create a fluid shopping environment,
space not being separated by floors but instead being connected into a continuous
experience (Mapletree 2006). Compared to other malls in Singapore, the mall has
significantly more outdoor space, much of which is not reserved for use by restaurants or
stores, but freely accessible to customers. Free spaces include open terraces and broad
stairways facing the sea, a courtyard with a playground surrounded by shops and a huge
rooftop garden with a performance stage and extensive large open wading pools for
children, thereby further developing the water and beach theme.
The above described concept and design of the mall resulted in a departure from
traditional mall zoning (see for example, Carter and Vandell 2005), especially with
regards to the allocation of key tenants. Restaurants mainly occupy the space along the
waterfront, many also offering outdoor seating. International fashion brands occupy
relatively prominent spots on the first floor, some of the stores so large in size that they
open up to walkways on two sides. On the second floor, shops selling children’s goods are
arranged around a sunken oval courtyard with a playground and are accessible from the
mall as well as the playground. The second floor also occupies a section for youth fashion
as well as retailers of consumer electronics. In comparison to the Toyosu mall, unit sizes of
specialty stores vary widely, with the developers having shown a lot of creativity in sizing
and shaping the stores.
In terms of the location and design of their stores, the larger key tenants are tightly
integrated, one might even argue somewhat hidden, into the overall mall layout. With only
relatively little frontage given to them, often not more than to a single specialty store, the
large spaces they occupy only become apparent to visitors after they enter these stores.
However, while much of their frontage is occupied by other tenants, these stores often
open up on several sides and thereby provide additional passageways to get from one point
in the mall to another.
Thereby, the layout of the mall is difficult to grasp, even for repeat customers and, as
intended by the architect, it leaves a lot of room for visitors to explore. However,
sometimes, this seems to have been overdone: for example, visitors to the cinema may find
their cinema experience coming to an end in a basement car park and then having
difficulties finding their way back to the stores and restaurants. Reacting to criticism from
the media and visitors, the mall developer had to engage in an expansive exercise to
improve signage in the mall.

Tenant mix
In its tenant mix, the mall is a city in itself, housing a wide range of shops that provide a
lower midrange to upper midrange offering, with only the true luxury brands not being
represented. Features such as the large free leisure space on the roof, the two massive food
courts, the hypermarket as well as the presence of some very affordable every day fashion
labels make the mall attractive also to consumers with lower spending power.
In terms of key tenants, the largest spaces is taken up by Vivomarket, a hypermarket-
organic supermarket (11,000 m2), Tangs, a department store (though with only 8000 m2
not full sized and full line), and a large Cinema complex with 15 screens (8,500 m2). Other
major tenants are Best Denki, a large Japanese consumer electronics retailer (3800 m2),
Toys R Us (2800 m2) and three food courts (total size of nearly 5000 m2). Among them is
Food Republic, a massive 2500 m2 themed food court that can seat 900 customers and has
been designed to let customers experience Singapore’s street hawker atmosphere of the
 Asia Pacific Business Review 131

early twentieth century. The operator has taken great care to source the often antique and
recycled building and decoration materials from China and other countries in the region.
The food court houses 30 food stalls and mini restaurants which in their design were
carefully integrated into the theme, up to the uniforms that employees are wearing. Thus, a
lot of space is taken up by food outlets, with outlets covering the full range from fastfood
to fine dining. This is a feature of most Singaporean malls, eating out being an integral part
of most shopping trips in Singapore.
The large tenants are supplemented by a number of brand stores, some of which are
operated by the same company. For example, G2000, a retailer of men’s and women’s
fashion apparel with a focus on office wear, is run by Wing Tai Retail that has developed
and grown the brand in Hong Kong and Singapore, and is running a total of 24 stores in
Singapore (Sim 2006). In total though, Wing Tai Retail has rented 1700 m2 of space in
VivoCity to house seven of its retail brands. In addition to home grown G2000, these are
licensed British labels Topshop, Topman, Warehouse and Charles Tyrwhitt, Australian
fashion accessories Diva, and also New Zealand’s children clothing brand Pumpkin Patch.

Developer’s intentions
While the developers of the Toyosu Mall aim to integrate their mall closely with its
developing residential neighbourhood, the developers of VivoCity have positioned their
mall as a destination mall serving all of Singapore:
VivoCity is positioned as a one-stop retail & lifestyle destination. Mapletree’s vision is to
create an iconic destination that will constantly surprise and stimulate visitors with its
vibrant mix of unique retail and entertainment concepts and ever-changing activities.
(Mapleptree 2006)
The developers of VivoCity, as their counterparts in Japan, seem to have taken some care
in selecting tenants, and it is reported that 20% of tenants in the mall are first time brands to
Singapore. For some of these brands, the developers have secured exclusive representation
for Singapore, for a certain period of time. The retail developer, CapitaLand, has also
made provisions for some brands to develop by allowing for lower base rents and higher
turnover components (Sim 2006).

Implications
The exploration of two malls in two Asian countries has shown several points that are
relevant for current shopping centre development in Asia and may provide starting points
for further explorations.
The two malls have shown that mall developers, as well as tenants, in Singapore and
Japan are thinking big again. Japanese retail has gone through a period of consolidation
after the end of the bubble economy, and after having first focused on malls in suburban
locations, developers are increasingly focusing inner city locations (Chain Store Age
2006b). Similarly, it has taken Singaporean real estate developers and retailers some time
to overcome their caution after the Asian crisis. However, the industry has now entered
into a race to create new facilities (Chan 2006). New malls show bold new dimensions
with regard to location, size, facilities and tenant mix. In this process, lifestyle based
concepts are increasingly becoming important. With more and more malls opening up,
mall operators have to differentiate what they offer to customers. While some do this via
the location of their malls, others come up with themes for their malls or a focus on
certain product groups. VivoCity was developed as a destination mall and tries to be
attractive to the mass market. It differentiates itself from its competitors through the
132 H. Meyer-Ohle

generous space that it provides for leisure and entertainment. The Toyosu Mall is an
example where a developer has very carefully analyzed the neighbourhood of the mall,
as well as current consumption and income trends and has decided to target its mall very
clearly to the needs of one segment. This is in contrast to the past when Japanese
companies had a tendency to target relatively broadly on the mass market, mirroring
Japan’s understanding of itself as a middle class society with little distinction in terms of
class and income. The Toyosu mall with its clear focus on the perceived needs of affluent
urban residents can be seen as a first breakaway from this way of thinking, going
hand-in-hand with developments in Japanese society that are leading towards significant
differentiation in terms of occupational patterns, incomes and lifestyles.
As pointed out in the literature review, Howard (1997) has distinguished approaches to
shopping centre management into property-led and customer-led approaches, and regards
the customer-led approach as more favourable for the long-term development of shopping
centres. With the expertise that both developers have accumulated in mall development,
both malls show features of a customer-centred approach but it is especially the Toyosu
mall that ranks highly in this regard. The centre being closely targeted toward the need of a
certain clientele and the developer having put in place measures to ensure a high
homogeneity between tenants in terms of appearance and service standards.
Both malls are run by real estate developers that rank among the largest in Asia.
Capitaland, as of December 2006, recorded assets of about Singaporean $20.6 billion
(US$14.3 billion), while Mitsui Fudosan’s assets stood at ¥3,294 billion (approximately
US$30.8 billion) as of March 2007. As of early 2008, Capitaland, directly or through
its various subsidiaries, ran 92 retail malls with a total floor space of about 3.8 million
m2. Its operations span across Asia with only 15 of its malls being located in
Singapore. In China, many of the companies’ malls are anchored by Wal-Mart.
Capitaland has been setting up several real estate investment trusts to finance its
expansion. In addition to its real retail arm, the Capitaland Group is a major investor in
office, hospitality and housing developments. Compared to Capitaland, Mitsui
Fudosan’s engagement in retail malls is smaller, with only 50 shopping facilities
across Japan with a total floor space of about 1.2 million m2 as of September 2007.
However, having added 300,000 m2 within one year, the company is aggressively
expanding its retail interests, trying to build up retail malls as a second stronghold
besides the development and management of office space (Company information at
www.capitaland.com, www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp).
Both malls are also examples where mall developing takes places within the larger
redevelopments of cities. For the case of Tokyo, people are moving back into the city
centres, with laws having been changed for the construction of high-rise residential
buildings. At the same time, industrial locations are systematically redeveloped and a
shopping mall is usually part of the redevelopment. For Singapore, the area around
VivoCity has already gained a lot in attractiveness through the opening of the mall and the
whole area will further change dramatically when the large-scale family resort and casino
will be opened on Sentosa Island opposite the shopping centre. Both developers are not
only involved in the development of the malls but also in the residential development of
the neighbourhood.
In the development of malls, developers in Asia are increasingly finding strong local
retail partners. These companies often have a whole portfolio of brands, are able to open
several stores in the same mall and have also started to internationalize their activities.
Toyosu Mall had 13 and VivoCity had 18 companies that operated more than one store in
the shopping centre. For Singapore, Wing Tai Holding, as of June 2006, had a portfolio
 Asia Pacific Business Review 133

of 17 brands, 108 stores in Singapore and 15 in Malaysia, generating revenues of

Singapore $163 million. RSH Limited, which in VivoCity, operates stores like Zara, Zara
Home, Mango and Ted Baker and Golf House, represents 60 brands and had 420
freestanding stores and 570 in 11 countries in the Asia Pacific and Middle East,
generating yearly revenues of Singapore $554 million. Finally, FJ Benjamin, which
operates stores like Gap, Guess and La Senza in VivoCity, represented 11 retail brands
with 130 stores in eight countries (company information at www.fjbenjamin.com,
www.rshlimited.com, www.wingtaiasia.com.sg). CapitaLand is working closely with
certain tenants based on its strong position in mall development in Asia. The company
thereby has a big tenant portfolio that it is using actively to increase the uniqueness of its
malls (Chea 2006).
For Japan, a similar development can be shown. Foreign brands are well
represented in the new shopping centres, but there are also a number of domestic
companies that have developed attractive store brands of their own. In doing so, they
have clearly learned a lot from foreign brands in terms of store design and
merchandising, but they have also come up with unique features of their own. Looking
at the quality of store design as well as the unit size of many of the new stores, this
development in Japanese retailing over the last 10 years has been astonishing. Many
tenant companies not only engage in the retailing of brands, but have developed
distinctive design, production and distribution capabilities of their own, enabling them
to grow at a very fast pace (Hanbai Kakushin 2006, Larke and Causton 2005).
As of August, Uniqlo operated 703 stores in Japan. The company has ventured
outside of Japan and is now also operating stores in the UK (8), China (7), Korea (9),
Hong Kong (1), and US (5). While being a single brand company so far, the company
has recently introduced its second brand. An operator that follows quite a different
strategy is World. In the Toyosu Mall the company is operating stores under the brands
of 3can4on, La Rotanda and The Shop. The company, also a producer and wholesaler,
has been growing its store network at an astonishing rate of between 10– 20% each year
and the number of its stores is estimated to have reached about 2,200 stores with a
combined sales floor of 300,000 m2 by March 2007. World is developing fashion brands
for every segment at a rapid pace, having come up with 19 new brands in the year 2006
alone, thereby bringing its total number of brands to 54 (company information at
www.world.co.jp). The company Point was already mentioned for running the Global
Work store. Beside Global Work it is operating stores under names such as Lowrys
Farm, Jeanasis, Rageblue, Hare, Undercurrent, Lepsim, Agrea, Heather or Nine Blocks
and has managed to increase its sales from ¥15.6 billion for the financial year ending
June 2002, to ¥49 billion for the year ending June 2006. Over the same period it
managed to increase its number of stores from 114 to 296 (company information at
www.point.co.jp).
While the Toyosu Mall is still clearly an exception for Japan, it shows that mall developers
have begun to realize that the combined strength of individual smaller tenants can actually
replace the need for an anchor tenant, thereby abandoning the traditional general
merchandising or department stores that would normally fill this role (Isomi 2006). The same
is true for the VivoCity mall which while featuring a number of key tenants does not have a
clear anchor tenant.
With the exception of Larke and Causton (2005) who, for Japan, have made some
effort in looking at the emergence of strong operators of specialty store chains, not much
has been done to look at the collaboration of mall developers and specialty store chains in
Asia, this thereby remaining as an important area for further studies.
134 H. Meyer-Ohle

Conclusion
Finally, the two case studies have shown that mall development in Asia has become a
cross-border activity. Mall developers are developing malls in other countries and many of
their tenants are also from overseas. Here, interesting developments are in progress and
tenants can actually profit from the activities of mall developers that look at their whole
tenant portfolio when populating their malls with stores, restaurants and leisure facilities.
Especially for Japan, malls have provided opportunities for international brands to thrive
and there is already a significant overlap in international brands being present at both
malls.
Looking at only two malls in only two countries, both only opened very recently, has
of course its limitations. The main one is the reaction of consumers. So far, many visitors
to the malls do not really seem to appreciate the efforts put into the conceptualization of
the two malls, but this may change over time. For the Toyosu Mall in Japan it needs to be
seen whether the mall can really assume a central role in the newly developing
community. For VivoCity, it needs to be seen whether the mall really has enough to offer
to become a lifestyle destination where consumers are willing to spend long hours.
Looking at two malls has shown important trends that in summary lead to the call for a
broadening of the agenda of research on retailing in Asia to include integrated shopping
malls. Much of the research so far has focused on the activities of large international
operators of superstores and, to a certain degree, convenience stores. However, any visitor
to any Asian city of significance will testify to the emergence of iconic new shopping
complexes that in size and architecture dwarf most of what can be found outside of Asia.
Understanding the workings of these shopping malls, especially the relationships between
developers and tenants as well as the international dimension of their activities, therefore
seems to be essential for a better understanding of retailing in Asia.

References
Bruwer, J. de W., 1997. Solving the ideal tenant mix puzzle for a proposed shopping centre: a
practical research methodology. Property management, 15 (3), 160– 172.
Carter, C. and Vandell, K., 2005. Store location in shopping centers: theory and estimates. Journal of
real estate research, 27 (3), 237– 264.
Chain Store Age, 2006a. Aabandokku RaRaPooto Toyosu (Urban Dock Lalaport Toyosu), 1 November,
pp. 74–75.
Chain Store Age, 2006b. Shutoken ōgata SC no shin chōryū (The new wave of shopping centres in
the greater Tokyo metropolitan area), 1 November, pp. 74 – 75.
Chan, F., 2006. Supply of new retail space to quadruple by 2009. Straits Times, 12 October.
Chea, U.H., 2006. Mall fever grips Asia. Business Times Singapore, 13 October.
Dawson, J.A., 1983. Shopping centre development. London and New York: Longman.
Fatt, J.P.T., 2001. Retailing in MRT malls in Singapore: implications for entrepreneurs. Asia Pacific
journal of marketing and logistics, 13 (4), 19 – 42.
Hanbai Kakushin, 2006. Tenanto cheen no topparyoku [The break through force strength of tenant
chains], July, pp. 41– 67.
Howard, E., 1997. The management of shopping centres: conflict or collaboration? International
review of retail, distribution and consumer research, 7 (3), 263– 285.
Ibrahim, M.F. and McGoldrick, P.J., 2006. Modelling shopping centre choices: effects of car
ownership on clothing shopping in Singapore. Journal of property research, 23 (3), 189–214.
Ibrahim, M.F. and Wee, Ng, C., 2002. The importance of entertainment in the shopping center
experience: evidence from Singapore. Journal of real estate portfolio management, 8 (2),
239– 254.
Isomi, S., 2006. Aaban & Daitoshi ken RSC ni GMS ga ‘shutten o motomerarenai’ wake. [Why there
is no demand in metropolitan regional shopping centres for general merchandising stores?].
Hanbai Kakushin, November, pp. 69 –71.
 Asia Pacific Business Review 135

Jacob, P., 1999. Really artificial, genuinely surreal. Shopping center world, 28 (7), 20 – 23.
Japan Council of Shopping Centers, 2006. Shoppingu oentaa hakusho [Whitepaper on shopping
centers 2006], Tokyo: Japan Council of Shopping Centers.
Kakikawa, A., 2006. Mitsui Fudōsan – Konseputo shudō kyokan RSC kaihatsu (Mitsui real estate:
developing a concept driven large warship regional shopping center). Hanbai Kakushin,
November, pp. 46 – 48
Kirkup, M. and Rafiq, M., 1994. Managing tenant mix in new shopping centres. International
journal of retail and distribution management, 22 (6), 29 – 37.
Larke, R. and Causton, M., 2005. Japan: a modern retail superpower. Houndmills Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Mapletree, 2006. VivoCity fact sheet. Available from: http://www.vivocity.com.sg/mediakit/
VivoCityFactSheet.pdf
Marston, S.A. and Modarres, A., 2002. Flexible retailing: Gap Inc. and the multiple spaces of
shopping in the United States. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 93 (1), 83 – 99.
Meyer-Ohle, H., 2003. Innovation and dynamics in Japanese retailing – from techniques to formats
to systems. Houndmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Moscove, B.J. and Fletcher, R.G., 2001. The new century: lessons learned from Singapore’s
shopping sector during the 1990s. The annals of regional science, 35 (4), 501– 522.
Nakada, Y. and Kajiura, M., 2006. Ryūtsū kourigyō no henka to dōkō – shoppingu sentaa o chūshin
ni [Developments and trends in the distribution industry with a focus on shopping centers].
Chiiki bunseki: Aichi Gakuin Daigaku Kenkyū-jo shohō, 44 (2), 145– 168.
Nicholls, J.A.F., Li, F., Kranendonk, C.J., and Roslow, S., 2002. The seven year itch? Mall shoppers
across time. Journal of consumer marketing, 19 (2), 149– 165.
Ooi, J.T.L. and Sim, L.S., 2007. The magnetism of suburban shopping centers: do size and Cineplex
matter? Journal of property investment and finance, 25 (2), 111– 135.
Richardson, J., 1996. Vertical integration and rapid response in fashion apparel. Organization
science, 7 (4), 400– 412.
Sim, A., 2006. Malls wring advantage from niche market. Business Times Singapore, 2 December.
Wang, S., Zhang, Y., and Zhang, Y., 2006. Opportunities and challenges of shopping centre
development in China: a case study of Shanghai. Journal of shopping center research, 13 (1),
19 – 55.
Yap, C., 1996. Retailing and the retail space market in Singapore. International journal of retail and
distribution management, 24 (8), 17 – 24.