To most Singaporeans (and tourists), Raffles City is an iconic shopping mall located in the Central district. Now, you can expect to see the very same familiar logo not in another part of Singapore, but in China!
CapitaLand has recently opened a new shopping mall in China called Raffles City Chongqing – this is a 235,000 square meters shopping mall with 95% committed occupancy, and is said to be the largest mall to open in the Chinese city this year. For reference, this shopping mall is more than 1.5 times larger than Changi Jewel, which spans 135,700 square meters.
Raffles City Chongqing is located in Chaotianmen, a historic site referred to as the crown jewel of Chongqing that offers magnificent views of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers converging. It attracted over 900,000 shoppers during its opening weekend, so you can probably expect some overwhelming crowds if you are planning to pay this mall a visit.
In addition to the retail shops, Raffles City Chongqing comprises of a hotel (InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing), office space, and luxury apartments housed within eight skyscrapers.
Here’s what makes Chongqing’s Raffles City different from the one located at North Bridge Road:
300m-long sky bridge that resembles MBS
One of the key attractions at Raffles City Chongqing is the Crystal sky bridge nestled above four 250-metre-tall skyscrapers. This bridge houses facilities such as an Exploration Deck, a viewing gallery accessible to the public; The Private Club, a members-only clubhouse; and a wide array of restaurants and bars at the Sky Garden.
Wondering why this bridge looks strangely familiar? That is because Raffles City Chongqing’s buildings were designed by the same architect behind Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore. Don’t forget to snap lots of photographs and confuse your loved ones by letting them think that you are actually in Singapore instead.
Shop till you drop at over 400 brands
If you think that having almost 300 retailers in Changi Jewel is already very overwhelming, you will be floored by the 400 over local and international brands in Raffles City Chongqing.
In fact, 40% of the international and local brands are new-to-market brands, flagships or new concepts, so you get an exclusive peek at up-and-coming brands and new product launches before the rest!
Some brands retailing in Raffles City Chongqing include: C&A, Old Navy, GAP, Calvin Klein, Lego, and Alienware.
Dine at China’s most high-tech restaurant
Move aside, Haidilao: this is the restaurant you’d want to visit in Raffles City Chongqing. The flagship restaurant in Shenzhen garnered a lot of attention when it was first opened, thanks to its unique and Weibo-worthy concept.
In this “futuristic restaurant”, food is delivered to your table via a spiral slide. The restaurant says that the process takes only 17 seconds with the dishes coming down from a 150-meter-long track, so it can do completely without waiters and you don’t have to worry about getting bad customer service.
Some people may be skeptical of the food that is served in concept restaurants, but you can be assured by the 4-star ratings that the food here is pretty good.
Services you need in just one app
Besides a high-tech restaurant, Raffles City Chongqing has also combined experiential retail concepts with digitalisation: think value-added services such as augmented reality navigation, restaurant booking, and carpark reservation, all supported by the CapitaStar app!
Perhaps we may have this in Raffles City Singapore in the near future, but for now if you want to find out how your shopping experience can be elevated by technology, be sure to make a trip to Chaotianmen and find out.
Raffles City Chongqing is located at No.8, Jiesheng Street, Yuzhong District, China, Chongqing, China, Chongqing.
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