Euro Plaza has always had great potential, but seems lacking in the ability to channel it. Situated in a heavily populated expat area with compounds and international schools galore, as well as being right across the street from the humongous Expo Center, Euro should be prime real estate for businesses with good marketing and retail insight.
So why isn’t it great?
McDonalds is the only space that seems to have consistent traffic. Yes, there are Comptoirs de France and BHG (among a few others) that have regular customers, but by and large most stores struggle and close shortly after opening.
What’s Out:
Rainbow Home (3rd floor)
A huge space selling some home improvement and décor items, this location already closed once, remodeled, and gave it a second shot. Without Blue Frog across the hall, foot traffic is light; although I did rake in some bargains when I stumbled across the going out of business sale.
Yobio yogurt (1st floor)
Villa Lifestyles
What’s Moving:
Jessie Tailor (from the basement to Pinnacle Plaza, next to Jenny Wang)
IQAir (to the basement level floor)
Likely a move to a floor where there is more consistent customer traffic. BHG helps this along greatly.
What’s New:
KFC (2nd floor)
Not a terribly convenient floor for a fast food business, but it provides another option to McDonalds for a quick bite to eat. It’s predictable, if not convenient.
Many clothing stores and freestanding stalls still occupy space at Euro Plaza, but they just don’t have it quite right for the market. Be it the rent prices, contracts or perhaps too many “unknowns” for potential lessees, there are MANY businesses we’d love to see in our neighborhood. Something to fulfill kid needs (clothing for ages 6-16, crafts/activity centers), expat services (office supplies/copy centers, Watsons) or families (movie theater, ice skating rink, bowling alley) would be an excellent start.
What Euro Plaza needs is a good expat marketing and sales person to work alongside their Chinese counterpart – the result likely being a good example of how working together for a positive outcome could actually work.
