Chinese telecom giant Huawei launched its second global flagship store in Shanghai on Wednesday, part of the group's strategies to boost its reputation as it faces pressures overseas in its main Chinese consumer market.
Hundreds of face mask-wearing patrons lined up to enter the 5,000-square-meter shop - Huawei's biggest - nestled on the busiest shopping street in the city and directly across a competing Apple retail store. Huawei's new store makes it bigger than most Apple Stores in the world, with the exception of its Fifth Avenue shop in New York City that was recently renovated to 77,000 square feet.
Representatives of the company stated the company plans to launch many more such stores in the mainland in 2021 to showcase its smartphones and other consumer innovations, plans Huawei said were conceived before the US government initiated a global campaign against the company some 18 months ago.
The first floor of the new store highlights Huawei's new products in 12 cabinets, including smartphones, tablet computers and wearable devices that display the gadgets in different living scenes. The third floor is a smart living area where customers can enjoy a magnificent view of the city and the centuries-old Nanjing East route.
The store will host community activities, providing community members with more than 60 free lectures in eight different subject areas, from video production to exercise.
Every month, local artists and international technical developers are invited to do workshop sessions at the store. More than 200 sales consultants are also in the shop, offering translation services in about 10 languages like Shanghainese, or Shanghai dialect.
The second-biggest smartphone maker in the world opened its first flagship store in its base city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province in September last year. Apart from China, to strengthen its brand in the European market, Huawei has rolled out major shops in Paris and Madrid.
Huawei is gearing up to launch the next-generation premium Mate 40 flagship smartphone series, just about the time of the launch of the new iPhone. The recent crackdown by the US, however, has disrupted the group's supply chain, leading to delays in the manufacture of components and parts for future devices.
According to Herman Zhu, chief marketing officer of Huawei's consumer business group, the Shanghai shop "not only connects consumers, developers and local artists, but also connects history, art, technology and the future," Zhu Shenshen of Shine said.
Huawei's new store is situated in a building built in 1935 by Silas Aaron Hardoon, a British property billionaire. Huawei hopes it the flagship store will become a venue where people can have fun, learn, share and innovate, Shine said.
