La Perle Shopping Centre Celebrates Grand Opening

Guangzhou's newest shopping sensation La Perle--a RMB 100 million dollar joint venture between Hong Kong King Prosper Development (China) Ltd. and Guangzhou JunYi Properties Development Ltd.--celebrates its grand opening today (Wednesday, 7 January 2004) with a cocktail reception, a spectacular laser light show, as well as a fashion presentation featuring renowned brand names found within the luxurious new mall. Bringing a touch of glamour to the occasion are two special celebrity guests Ms. Carina Lau and Ms. Michele Reis. Also expected to attend this celebratory event are VIP brand representatives from around the globe.

La Perle is situated in Guangzhou's bustling commercial area, Huan Shi Dong Road, surrounded by notable landmarks such as the Garden Hotel, Bai Yun Hotel, Friendship Store and Guangzhou World Trade Centre. Linked to the lobby of the Bai Yun Hotel and the Friendship Store, La Perle consists of a two-level south wing and a five-storey east wing. Collectively, these high-end establishments form the largest brand name haven in Guangzhou for the shopping cognoscenti.

This 10,000-square metre multi-level retail complex already boasts some of the world's most famous luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Prada, Dior, Fendi, Celine, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Lanvin, Ermenegildo Zegna, Givenchy, Polo Ralph Lauren, Versace, Charriol, Tommy Hilfiger, D&G and Versus. Among these prestigious labels, Celine, D&G, Hermès, Hugo Boss, Prada and Versace will be throwing open their doors for the first time in Guangzhou, while Dior, Ermenegildo Zegna, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Prada are set to unveil newly-designed concept stores.

Leading-edge shopping mall design firm Concept International Design Limited fashioned La Perle into a translucent crystal palace with a strong contemporary artistic flair through liberal use of glass walls. Derived from the French word for "pearl" and symbolizing the mall's position in the heart of the Pearl River Delta, La Perle's overall design concept even finds inspiration from a pearl's innate characteristics including its spherical shape, translucency and lustre.

Adding to the La Perle shopping experience is a wondrous series of water sceneries located both inside and outside the arcade. Designed by Crystal Fountains Inc., the company responsible for building the fountain scenes for the world's tallest Twin Towers in Malaysia, these computer-operated water features create some one hundred various sceneries through high-pressure jets propelling water at a rate of six times per second and up to a maximum height of 20 m at the entrance and 18 m in the atrium.

The mall was built in a short span of one year from May 2002 until June 2003--a record time for completing a project of this magnitude within China--in spite of technical and environmental issues as well as the unexpected SARS outbreak.

La Perle is set to become a premiere shopping destination, striving to offer not only an innovative mix of lifestyle, fashion and designer retailers housed for the first time under one roof in Guangzhou, but also international management standards. The mall's service-oriented leadership involves a customer relations management department to ensure a close and constant liaison between landlords and retailers; the recruitment of top marketing specialists to monitor La Perle's development and to create a year-long promotional campaign; as well as a newly-established website (www.laperle-global.com) communicating all the latest news on La Perle.