As the capital of Hubei province, Wuhan is a major manufacturing hub in central China and “the gateway to nine provinces.” Based on its size and growing affluence, the city is one of the relatively underserved luxury markets in China despite the short-term challenges facing the overall economy, according to a recent Savills report.
“Wuhan, a city that has weathered the storms but is still full of positivity and optimism, is a city where its people stick together; it’s a place where people truly enjoy and celebrate life,” SKP said in a statement.
“SKP Wuhan will inject new energy and new perspectives into the business of fashion department stores. It will also challenge the preconceived notion of what SKP stands for. We bring about a new way of thinking to the Hubei province and the Central China area, the entire domestic market, the overall global business sector, and the fashion arena,” SKP added.
“Shoppers in Wuhan can now enjoy the magic that is SKP and SKP-S,” the retailer noted.
For Torquil McIntosh and Simon Mitchell, cofounders of Sybarite, the London architectural firm and longtime collaborator of SKP, the SKP Wuhan will play a huge part in evolving the city’s luxury retail landscape.
“Being able to mastermind a holistic and gravitational masterplan was very rewarding, especially in the case of creating the connection between the department store itself and the adjacent pedestrianized promenade K Avenue,” McIntosh said.
“We were able to take a classic shopping mall and formulated it into a living, breathing magazine. SKP also becomes part of that street culture, with the K Avenue retail street of 44 properties that have been repurposed for brand takeovers,” added Mitchell of the outdoor luxury promenade at SKP Wuhan.
Major Brands Sign On
Imposing hoardings for luxury names such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga, Dior, Prada,Miu Miu, Loewe, Moncler and Burberry now stand shoulder to shoulder along the busy riverside corridor that extends for about 1.5 kilometers. So far, the Bottega Veneta and Longchamp flagships are open, and Loewe has unveiled its limestone facade. The SKP section takes up about one-third of the commercial thoroughfare known as “Han Street.”
As SKP extends outdoors, a new balance between brands, curation and house style has to be achieved. “The architecture and landscaping were created so that the flagships could ultimately control their own image, amassing in a dense, diverse and rich concentration of branded styles, yet all set within the subtle and expansive guidelines of the SKP branded retail experience,” McIntosh said. “This required a balanced architectural approach, which ultimately allows for creating another first for SKP.”
To better direct traffic from the SKP building to the retail block, a glass “superstructure” was introduced at a ground floor entrance.
A walk down K Avenue gives viewers a stunning view of the SKP Wuhan facade, which looks like a radiating lantern from afar. The effect was achieved by layering two interacting geometric skins on top of a lighting system. SKP logos, strategically placed at a 45-degree angle at each of the four entrances, complement the rhythmic dance of the dazzling facade.
The latest SKP landmark was formerly the Wanda Plaza shopping mall, which opened in 2013.
SKP Wuhan, essentially a large-scale remodeling project, began to take shape in 2021, when Wanda Plaza’s parent company, Wanda Properties, began to offload assets to tackle debt woes, according to local media reports.
More Than 1,000 Brands Introduced
Positioned as “a high-end commerce destination,” the six-story, 2.1 million-square-foot SKP Wuhan introduces more than 1,000 international first-tier brands to the city.
With sustainability top of mind, Sybarite decided to preserve 60 percent of the existing structure. But to transform the generic shopping mall into an intimate department store layout required a complete overhaul of the customer navigation system, which meant a reconfiguration of the building’s fire escape structure.
It turns out that moving the fire strategy completely outdoors, which eliminated a huge circular emergency vehicle route inside, became one of the key innovations of the project. The changes required adding more external staircases and carving spacious canopies into the sides of the building, which double as fire egresses.
Upon arriving at one of the four entryways carved into the building, a soft glow catches visitors’ eyes.
One of the four SKP Wuhan entrances.
Inside the mall, or “a cloister-like” retail haven, shoppers are guided toward two half-moon shaped atriums enclosed by book-matched marble, which are currently occupied by a Bulgari and a Louis Vuitton pop-up.
The rest of the first floor is dedicated to high jewelry, watches, beauty and fragrance brands. The SKP Select Beauty corner, which counts more than 150 well-known domestic and international high-end beauty brands — more than 100 of which are making their Wuhan market debut — is also the largest display of the SKP in-house buying program. Another highlight within beauty is the “Scented Realm” fragrance corner, which offers a stable of 40 brands.
A Louis Vuitton pop-up at SKP Wuhan’s half-moon shaped atrium.
The second to fourth floors are dedicated to womenswear, menswear, sportswear, fashion jewelry, kidswear, home appliances, its multibrand arm SKP Select, SKP Select home, the SKP Rendez-vous bookstore and gallery, and an SKP spa.
Every level is shaped in a curved walkway with geometric wayfinders that peel from the ceiling, consistent with an intimate “SKP sense of place.”
“There are all these subliminal layers, and I call it the onion skin metaphor. The more you peel off the skin of an onion, the sweeter it gets in the middle, so every time a customer comes back to SKP, I believe they have this emotional bond and empathy with the brand, and they feel like they’re in a house of curation,” Mitchell said.
The circular fifth floor is home to 13 restaurants, including the one-star Michelin restaurant Beijing Kitchen, which serves Cantonese cuisine. Most restaurants offer an al fresco option at the lush garden space with reflective water features in the center of the floor.
On the ground floor of the department store is the latest and fourth iteration of SKP-S, the younger-positioned and experiential retail space. Inspired by the science fiction classic “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and themed “Earth 2124,” the retailer worked with Jin Art to produce an immersive world that pictures livelihood in an alternative universe dominated by arctic animals. The adjacent SKP-S Gourmet spotlights local dishes.
SKP-S
High jewelry and watch brands including Graff, Boucheron, Mikimoto, Damiani, Wellendorff, Breguet and Grand Seiko and luxury and fashion brands including Brunello Cucinelli, Dunhill, Canali, Christian Louboutin, Gianvito Rossi, and Repetto were able to make their Wuhan market debuts via SKP.
The opening of SKP Wuhan has drawn 100,000 visitors daily since it soft-launched on July 13. On the eve of its grand opening on July 26, “the symphony of victory” rang through the halls of the mall, signifying the store has reached its daily sales target, which is an undisclosed amount.
Known for operating one of the world’s most profitable malls SKP Beijing, the luxury retailer owned by Beijing Hualian Group also operates locations in Xi’an and Chengdu. It has unveiled plans to open additional locations in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Kunming and Hohhot in the near future.
