City plans 100 'convenient living circles' over 3 years

Shanghai is developing about 100 "convenient living circles" over the next three years, offering high-quality community services covering homes, working, study, commuting and health.

The circles are to better serve the community residents with facilities within a 15-minute walk, complete with shopping, eateries, education, medical care, sports, leisure and care for the elderly, said Gu Jun, director of the city's Commission of Commerce.

The circles will have stronger consumer supply capacity, with various shopping facilities meeting residents' daily needs, including convenience stores, comprehensive supermarkets, standardized food markets, and fresh supermarkets.

In addition, they will develop more featured businesses catering to local tastes, such as specialty restaurants, boutique supermarkets and bookstores, and strive to promote the community's "morning economy" and "night economy."

Necessary barrier-free facilities and maternal and newborn care centers will also be set up, as well as counters and experience stores offering special services for the elderly.

The commission also highlighted the city's "debut economy," in which businesses choose Shanghai to open their first stores and launch new products.

In 2021, Shanghai became home to 1,078 new stores, of which 14 were brands' first stores in the world or in Asia, and 167 were their first stores on the Chinese mainland.

A new landmark in Shanghai, JC Plaza last Friday saw the opening of the flagship stores of four fashion brands under the Italian luxury group OTB – Maison Margiela, Marni, Jil Sander and Amiri – which were among the first batch of high-end debut stores opened in core commercial areas after the citywide lockdown due to the pandemic.

The city will further encourage more domestic and overseas brands to launch their new products here, open their first stores and set up headquarters in Shanghai, offering policy and financial support, facilitating customs clearance, and optimizing the intellectual property system, Gu said.