Shanghai Pacific Department Store Co Ltd will open the first Far Eastern Department Store on China's mainland in December, the company disclosed yesterday.
The 43,000-square-meter store will be opened in the Jiangbei District of Chongqing Municipality, the company said.
"The (Chongqing) store will be the flagship store of Far Eastern on the mainland," said Yan Chengda, a Pacific official responsible for the new store. "It will still target fashionable youth just like the Pacific Department Store, but it's a higher-level store than Pacific in terms of brands and services."
The official added that the company will at least open one Far Eastern Department Store every year in the coming years.
"The company plans to open 15 new stores on China's mainland in 10 years," said Chiang Chia-neng, general manager of Shanghai Pacific Department Store.
Taiwan-invested Pacific, which has become a popular department store brand on China's mainland, has three shops in Shanghai and six in Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian and Beijing.
In Shanghai, the new stores are expected to be opened in the Wujiaochang area and in Minhang District, Chiang said.
Company officials said the firm will use a double-brand strategy to develop both stores on the Chinese mainland at the same time. Pacific Sogo Department Store and Taiwan Far Eastern Group merged in 2002.
"Pacific Department Store has started to speed up expansion on the mainland to capitalize on the huge market potential and take advantage of the country's relaxed policies for overseas-invested companies to open new stores," said Wang Liang, a senior researcher with the Shanghai Institute of Current Economic Research.
"The company wants to reinforce its position on the mainland market which is seeing more firms competing for a share of the market," the researcher added.