How to Revitalize and Break Through in Luxury Retail Operations?

In 1906, two significant events took place in Tianjin. In an old warehouse at the intersection of Binhai Road and Jilin Road, Zhou Ziyun of the French Baida Company built the Quanxian Tea Garden, which was soon rented by an American businessman and transformed into China’s first cinema. In the same year, the “heartthrob” Li Deqin arrived in Tianjin, performing crosstalk by the pond in Xitou and Sanjiao District, eventually becoming the famous “King of Crosstalk” in Beijing and Tianjin. The charm of this city might lie in its resistance to being defined by a single label—it can transform old relics into sources of new life, while allowing the stately Western-style buildings of the Five Avenues to coexist with street-level jokes. Tianjin constantly renews itself in a relaxed manner.Today’s new retail business is also in search of such qualities: After the wave of large-scale developments recedes, who can find the spirit of self-evolution? Who can combine luxury with everyday life, rarity with accessibility, and create a language that resonates with more people? In the evolution of Tianjin’s MixC Mall, we seem to have found the answer: crafting a new narrative for the space from an old setting.In 2019, 571 new shopping malls opened across China, marking a year-over-year decline for the first time. This pivotal turning point signified a shift in China’s commercial real estate market from the “mass replication” development logic to the “fine-tuned operations” era of stock assets. It was also in this year that China Resources officially entered Tianjin’s commercial scene.

As the first luxury joint-venture project in North China under China Resources MixC Life, MixC Tianjin has unique geographical advantages and faces considerable structural challenges. Originally built as a “shopping center + department store” combination, its large scale and old structure left a substantial amount of work to be done. This posed the core issue of the stock era: How to inject new content into an existing framework and structure?The solution to this renovation lies in the atmosphere of the space. Today, if you walk into the project, you will notice that after six years of refinement, the overall vibe of the mall has become more aligned with China Resources’ style—more precisely, the original grandeur and solidity of the space and decoration have been infused with more sophistication and elegance. A layered and aesthetic lighting system, standardized quality and image management, comprehensive tenant management services, and more meticulous cleaning processes have not only enhanced the mall’s overall visual and tactile experience but have also fundamentally reshaped its “aura.”One particularly representative example of this update is the renovation of the MIXCH!LL block on the B1 floor. The team, with boldness and ingenuity, dismantled the original large water feature and replaced it with warm wooden-patterned floor tiles and carefully planned greenery, introducing a poetic sense of nature indoors. Open seating surrounded by plants, seasonal artistic floral landscapes, and unified parasols placed between various store islands softened the boundaries of the commercial space, attracting high-quality family shoppers.

More importantly, the relationship between the space and the brands has also been redefined here.In the past, the window displays in luxury stores were gorgeous but created distance between people and products. At MIXCH!LL, this barrier has been completely removed. Six Tianjin flagship stores from brands like the French dessert brand Lightning Paris, Western-style bakery Shanmu Farm, and the high-quality floral brand Matte Garden feature a “long-axis layout,” allowing customers to interact intimately with the brands as they stroll through a garden-like atmosphere. The underlying judgment behind this design is clear: Young people no longer pay for the “distant luxury”; they pay for “tangible comfort.” This is precisely the “space operation” philosophy that China Resources MixC Life has been vigorously promoting in recent years. What makes Tianjin MixC special is its ability to transform “indoor spaces into outdoor ones,” bringing natural landscapes inside and creating more diverse social spaces, offering a delicate atmosphere for young people to gather—at a lower cost to create higher value.Thus, you can see that the collaboration between brands like Mud Boots, HOLA! LA PAELLA, and the mall space seamlessly integrates, with store elements and public areas blending together to spread a relaxed atmosphere across the entire floor. This approach creates a softer, more youthful space narrative in the previously closed, high-end luxury sections of the old department store.

As of this year, the project has achieved more than a 20% increase in retail sales and foot traffic, with retail sales up 30% year-on-year during the recent store anniversary celebrations. The data speaks volumes about the success of the project’s restructuring and operational capabilities.When luxury meets everyday life, behind the transformation of the space and atmosphere lies a deeper shift in consumer preferences. In today’s consumption landscape, the boundaries between “luxury/affordable luxury/fast fashion” have blurred. More and more consumer choices are moving away from the hierarchical symbols of price and shifting towards the multiple expressions of meaning, experience, and identity. In other words, people are no longer just paying for things; they are paying for self-pleasure. For luxury spaces, this means that the definition of value must be rewritten. The scarcity of international luxury brands remains precious, but beyond scarcity, projects also need to provide more touchpoints, finding new intersections with customers in everyday life. Looking back at the brand adjustments in MixC Tianjin over the years, this has been a thoughtful response to this trend.First, it still upholds the height of luxury. Scarcity is timeless; it is the order of the space and the anchor of the market. The opening of the first Hermes store in Tianjin in 2023 marks a new development stage for the project. Today, leading brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Prada, along with nearly 40 international luxury brands, have helped establish the ceiling of high-end consumption in Tianjin. More than 20 of these are exclusive city stores, cementing the project’s irreplaceable core competitiveness in the local market.

The second point is the rise of popular lifestyle brands, such as outdoor and cycling brands, which have become the strongest outdoor brand combination in North China, forming a performance moat for the project. In the past few years, the project has introduced head brands from niche outdoor segments, such as HELLY HENSON, Mountain Mouse, Mammoth, and SALOMON, following the success of brands like Arc’teryx and DESCENTE. This has further solidified its position as the leader in outdoor brands in Tianjin. In August this year, around 20 sports and outdoor brands, including DESCENTE and Lululemon, also opened their first stores in the region or city.The third point is the expansion of casual dining and trendy brands. Compared to the previous focus on business dining, the project team has introduced high-end chocolate brands like VENCHI, Läderach, the popular bakery Qibenshan, and Shanmu Farm into the MIXCH!LL social zone on the B1 floor. These, along with brands such as FUFUSOUL, Stanley, STENDERS, and Tianwu, create a young ecosystem centered around the enjoyment and exploration of life. On the upper floors, the newly added creative restaurants like Yeguo, Minwei Village’s Xiacuo, NEED Creative Korean Cuisine, Shanhuwan, and Qiangtoujia further enrich the restaurant offerings, forming a diverse matrix of first-time brands in the project.

In the past two years, over 200 new brands have been introduced, many of which feature unique design elements, creating elegant atmospheres with greenery that interact with the mall’s indoor public spaces, offering a more relaxed and pleasant vibe. These new businesses with high-quality taste and unique design break the previous sense of “distance” at MixC Tianjin, offering young consumers their first experience of high-end consumption through products like exquisite afternoon tea or popular trendy items.From being evenly matched with competitors in the early stages to now becoming the indisputable commercial leader in Tianjin, MixC Tianjin has continually enhanced its position in North China’s commercial landscape. It has nurtured its reputation as both a luxury hub and a dynamic city traffic center. This has been achieved through a blend of high-end heritage and fresh new brands, making the project a rich, inclusive flagship in the commercial market.Lighting Up Cultural Landmarks Through Urban Events.On April 8 this year, a post by Xiaohongshu user “Hala Yu” went viral as the first blogger to visit the StayReal Park in MixC Tianjin. The post quickly ignited enthusiasm among the fans gathering for the May Tianjin concert. Soon after, Tianjin MixC became the go-to destination for fans to gather before the concert. This “aggregation effect” reflects the new logic of commercial competition: beyond purposeful consumption, what sets a project apart is its ability to actively create cultural topics and guide the city’s trends.

This is a new challenge for luxury malls. They have always been good at delivering impeccable service, but this is often reserved for a select few. In today’s traffic-driven era, how can luxury malls maintain their elite aura while reaching more people? The answer lies in a gentle yet powerful approach—renewal.Now, when young people walk into a mall, it’s not always to tick off items from their shopping lists, but to enjoy social experiences and emotional connections. StayReal Park is a perfect example of this adaptation. By creating music performances and large lake art installations in the outdoor plaza, and bringing exclusive merchandise sales into the mall, the project achieved a historic single-day foot traffic record and created a new hotspot for fan-driven consumer activity.Even more impressively, MixC Tianjin didn’t stop at a one-time data spike. Beyond hosting citywide community events with in-mall brands, the team proactively created a co-creation environment for cross-industry brands. For example, they collaborated with brands like JO MALONE, Amouage, Mud Boots, and Insta360 to innovate new commercial experiences in Tianjin. However, excitement alone doesn’t create lasting impact. The team extended its high-quality service logic to a broader customer base, allowing more people to feel respected.Currently, the largest and most comprehensive mother-child service center in the Tianjin market is located on the third floor of the project. It includes independent nursing rooms, temperature-controlled hot water, and free baby supplies, as well as online appointment scheduling and professional care services, offering a “hardware + service” dual-first-class experience.

On the fifth floor, the multifunctional VIP member center serves as a key service window for high-end members. It provides a dedicated VIP lounge and exclusive high-quality tours for top clients, such as the “Anji Bamboo Forest Secret Realm” tour, enhancing the premium experience and member loyalty.As of this year, MixC Tianjin has gained around 240,000 new members, with membership spending accounting for over 75% of total revenue. Behind the numbers is a long-term relationship built through exclusive experiences. Creating flow and attention through renewal and establishing long-term relationships with consumers, when “event-driven traffic” and “everyday experiences” form a cycle, luxury malls gain true youthfulness—maintaining their status as urban landmarks while also being warm and accessible in everyday life.Every shopping mall in a city reflects both its history and the era it exists in. In Tianjin, a city rich in history and culture, MixC Tianjin is shaping a new narrative for luxury malls by using approachable spaces, a rich variety of brands, diverse activities, and high-quality services. From the first eight months of foot traffic and sales trends, MixC Tianjin is on track to reach the 8 billion yuan club, representing the pinnacle of China Resources MixC Life’s operational capabilities. This journey of renewal continues, and I look forward to seeing how MixC Tianjin will further innovate and bring new experiences to the city, cementing its role as an important commercial symbol on Tianjin’s path to becoming an international consumption center.