Phnom Penh’s First Underground Shopping Mall Opens

• 4 October 2016
• Local News
• 4182 Views

After three years of construction, Naga Corp has opened Phnom Penh’s first underground shopping mall featuring hundreds of luxury local and international brands.

Opening on 1 August, the USD90 million Naga City Walk underground mall connects the Naga 1 Hotel and Casino complex to the under-construction Naga 2 Hotel and Casino.Construction on Naga 9 is currently over 90 percent complete and is due to open in 2017-18.

Developed by Hong Kong-based Naga Corp which operates the Naga 1 and Naga 2 entertainment and hotel complexes, the shopping mall has been built to international standards and is divided into three different zones. The first zone offers duty-free prices on renowned brands, the second handles high-quality Cambodia-made products, while the third offers rentable units to authorized dealers of luxury brands.

Spanning almost 4,000sq.m, the mall will stock over 400 global brands, including Dior, Swarovski, Gucci, with the duty free status making prices cheaper by between 25-35 percent more.

A senior director at CBRE who is the mall’s leasing agent told local media that so far about 90 percent of the retail properties had already been leased, mainly to foreigners.

According to Timothy McNally, chairman of Naga Corp, in an interview with CNBC in late July, Naga City Walk is dedicated to only selling premium branded luxury products.

3,900sq.m of the mall has been leased to the Chinese state-run duty free operator China Duty-Free Group (CDFG).Under the deal, CDFG will bring in hundreds of global brands, mainly those that are particularly popular in China, to the complex.

CDFG Company, with headquarters in Beijing, has a chain of 200 large tax-free stores across China and around the world. Phnom Penh is not the only duty-free store it has opened in Cambodia, after the company opened its first store in Siem Reap in 2014. The 4,500sq.m Angkor Duty-free Store offers over 200 global brands.

The underground mall and the retail outlets in Phnom Penh are targeted at overseas luxury buyers, especially Chinese tourists who have been visiting Naga in rapidly increasing numbers.

“We are operating Naga City Walk and it will be a premium first class retail outlet to cater to Cambodia’s significant tourism growth. There are 7.5 million tourists expected by 2020 and Naga City Walk will open soon for them,” said Mr. McNally.

• Urbanization and Architect