Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

The Shanghai No.1 Yaohan Department Store has completed its facelift, with the nearly 6,000-square-meter ground floor specifically dedicated to the world's top brands. The store will open to the public tomorrow, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.
The renovation, covering 30,000 square meters from the ground to the ninth floor, is the largest restructuring project since the department store was opened in 1995, said Li Guoding, general manager with the Shanghai No.1 Yaohan Department Store.
"Building a center on the ground floor for globally famous brands is the focus of the re-construction, with 80 percent of the brands there upgraded," Li pointed out, adding that among the more than 30 newly-introduced brands, 70 percent are such world-renowned brands as Channel and Cartier, the first time for such brands in the Pudong New Area.
In order to lure one top foreign brand, they offered free decorations for its boutique, worth 12,000 yuan (US$1,400) in decoration charges per square meter, Li stressed.
As of this year, many local department stores and shopping malls have upgraded their brands, with more globally famous brands being introduced.
The Chinese high-end department store market is becoming maturer, said Guang Yijun, vice general manager with the property management company of the Shanghai Times Square. Luxury department stores will have enough commodity supplies when the domestic retail industry opens to foreign investors by the end of this year, he indicated, predicting that the number of foreign brands is expected to increase by more than 30 percent in the next year.