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theme parks and amusement parks. You probably don’t
need us to tell you that, but a shopping mall
owner/operator from the northern city of Harbin reckons he’s hit on a fresh
family entertainment centre concept and he plans to roll out it out to half a dozen new locations around the country. In an exclusive article for Park World, Sang Hong shares the SongSong Town
story and reveals how it was all started by a squirrel
SONGSONG TOWN L
China is not short of new The FEC that made a shopping mall sing
ater this year Disney will open its first ever theme park in mainland China. However, with such a big population in the country, and also due to distance
and financial restraints, it will not be possible for everyone to visit Shanghai Disneyland. That’s especially the case for people in the north of China. I consider SongSong Town to be a completely new
experience for children. Traditionally when the mum goes shopping they leave the kids at home. We want to provide a place for children to play while their parents are shopping. If you can satisfy the kid, you satisfy the whole family. When the kid comes to play there will be another three or four family members who will come and spend time in the mall. Some will come for four hours; others will stay for as long as 10.
BELOW: Mr Sang with Ms LeLe – one of the SongSong Town characters created by Thinkwell and a big seller in the SongSomg Town retail store
Online antidote In China there are hundreds and thousands of malls, but because of e-commerce young people are getting used to buying things online, and lots of malls are shutting down or looking for a way out. So we are the next step, moving on from traditional malls to somewhere people come also for recreation, to play and to learn.
The shopping mall is called LeSong Plaza. SongShu is the Chinese word for squirrel and in the north of China there are lots of squirrels. Kids love them! There is also a famous river in the area called SongHua, so that’s why I chose the name SongSong Town and named the main character of the story SongSong. Previously the mall’s full name was LeSong Shopping Plaza, but now we have named it LeSong Culture Plaza because as well as SongSong Town on weekends we have concerts, people painting and lots of things to do. We are trying to introduce a new lifestyle. There may be other malls with kids’ zones, but for us Thinkwell has designed an entire area with things for kids to do.
Nuts for squirrels
Open since May 1 at LeSong Culture Plaza in Harbin (Heilongjiang Province), Mr Sang expects SongSong Town to attract one million guests in its first 12 months – not bad for an attraction inside a shopping mall. “We see a lot of mall owners now that want to add an
attraction, but it is usually just a small amusement park,” notes Kelly Ryner, president of Thinkwell Asia in Beijing. “What we loved about Mr Sang’s vision was that he wanted to create a really rich, story-based environment with original characters. He came to us wanting squirrels! There’s also an educational side to it; it’s not just show and ride.” Ryner is also keen to highlight LeSong Plaza’s themed food court. “Mr Sang had us overhaul the floor above SongSong Town as well, calling it LeLe Way. It’s part Little Italy, part Little England and part little Paris. He’s also made sure that every food vendor in there fully themes out the inside of their spaces as well. It’s a world away from the typical American food court with a bunch of sterile fast food environments. And this is why families will happily spend up to 10 hours visiting SongSong Town, the romantic dining floor, and the other mall facilities at LeSong Plaza.” Thinkwell Asia now hopes to assist Mr Sang as he
embarks on his plans to roll out the SongSong Town franchise to other Chinese cities.
36
JANUARY 2016
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