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ASIA EXPO 2007 GROWS WITH REGION’S RETAIL

By Debra Hazel

Executives from around the globe will soon gather in one of the world’s busiest regions for retail development for ICSC’s second annual Asia Expo. They will certainly have much to talk about at this meeting, titled “Connect, Challenge, Inspire,” which runs July 17-19 at the SunTec Singapore.

Take China. Though shopping centers were not introduced there until the mid-1990s, their growth in that country has been spectacular, albeit concentrated largely in the eight largest cities. As of the end of 2005, Shanghai had 37 shopping centers, 24 of them super-regionals, according to the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies. Beijing’s first mall, Oriental Plaza, opened in 2001, but as of mid-2006 the city boasts 63 million square feet of shopping center space, according to Colliers International. Beijing also claims to have the world’s largest mall: the 9.6 million-square-foot Golden Resources Mall, which opened in 2005.

All this retail development is trying to keep up with China’s rapidly growing economy, which now ranks as the world’s second-largest, after the U.S., according to The World Factbook. “The second annual Asia Expo will again serve as the premier networking forum for anyone interested in doing business in the region,” said Scott Harris, ICSC’s staff vice president of global business development. “Singapore, with its regional leadership in the retail property sector and its outstanding convention and exhibition facilities, is the ideal host for the Asia Expo.”

Meanwhile, India’s gross domestic product is growing abundantly: It was $798 billion in 2005-2006 and is expected to top $902 billion in 2006-2007. This makes India’s economy the fourth-largest in the world, according to ICSC research.

The conference will start with a study tour of Singapore shopping centers, to be followed by the Asia launch of ICSC’s Next Generation program. Among the panels will be a discussion titled “The Mall as Money Machine: New and Alternative Sources of Revenue,” led by Alison Rehill-Erguven, vice president of General Growth Properties’ GGP International. “General Growth Properties believes its future growth will come from a few areas in the coming years, and growing globally is one of those areas,” said Rehill-Erguven. “It is important for us to participate in conferences such as the ICSC’s Asia Expo, not only to support the global efforts of ICSC, but also to strengthen GGP’s mission and identity on an international front. Also, as we gain more exposure to our international counterparts, there are always things we can learn as well.”

Last year’s expo attracted some 1,200 attendees from 32 countries. “All the major companies doing business in the region,” Harris said, “will be in attendance.”