The fourth location for the established department store franchise updates the SKP format with an outdoor promenade that features 44 luxury and fashion brands.
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.’ To better direct traffic from the SKP building to the retail block, a glass ‘superstructure’ was introduced at a ground floor entrance.
Positioned as ‘a high-end commerce destination,’ the six-story, 2.1mn sq ft (195.000m2) SKP Wuhan introduces more than 1,000 international first-tier brands to the city. With sustainability top of mind, SKP decided to preserve 60% 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. 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. 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.’
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.
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.