By CHEN Qirui

Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci, Versace, Tiffany, Cartier, Rolex… the usual suspects of extravagant malls in big cities, have all appeared in Nanchang, the capital city of landlock Jiangxi Province with a rich red history. 

A shopping mall in Nanchang owned by Wushang Group, a state-owned enterprise based in Wuhan in Hubei Province, will open its doors this year, the first mall in the city to have luxury brands. 

While the IFS mall in neighboring Changsha has if brimming with famous names, Nanchang has been, until now, almost completely overlooked. 

Wushang’s Wuhan International Plaza was the only mall with luxury brands in Wuhan until Hang Lung came along. Wushang chose Nanchang as their first stop out of their home province Hubei to avoid competition. 

High-end malls are particularly in favor of second-tier cities in recent years to explore potential consumers. Luxury brands are also looking for new customers they can cultivate. The Moodie Davitt Report said that Louis Vuitton plans to have at least one store in all provincial capitals in China.

While many luxury brands are very widely known, there are plenty more niche, yet still expensive fashion brands like Moschino and Balmain may run into apathy among Nanchang’s less-sophisticated shoppers.