Huafa New Town and the Decline of Convenience
Huafa New Town, was probably the most convenient and most foreign populate place in Zhuhai. Up until recently it had a super market (not a good one but none-the-less) convenient; a cafe (Jane's on the first floor now they have their other one on the second floor; several restaurants; a flower shop; a medicine shop, etc.
Their is one owner and he is trying to sell the entire parcel of land to one buyer, 350 million EU I am told.
But for now, living there is less than convenient and we must drive like many of us do in our home countries and fill up the basket at carrefour once a week.
Any other information anybody has on this?
The commercial street in Huafa new town was sold by the Huafa group to one prviate company a few years back.
If this company wants to sell to another one, I do not think it means all the shops will close. Just a new owner, that's all.
Maybe of use to some people:
If you take the little used exit of the first roundabout (the exit opposite the health club (heading towards Nanping and not the water)), and walk 200 metres there is a market.
There are also about 10 small shops, selling all your cooking and household essentials (including bedding).
If you walk another 100 metres (across the muddy track) you come to the large bank building, on that terrace is where the pharmacy has moved to.
Those residents with legs, will have actually explored where they live, and know this...
:)
Where is the inconvenience? All the shops of old are there still, I believe. If anything, more foreign products are available now than before -- Australian and new Zealand milk, baguettes, cheese etc at either Jane's Place or Meesote. The vegetable selection remains poor, but no poorer than before, and (before I moved away from Huafa) the food stalls on the side street next to Phase 4 were increasing/improving variety.
The new mega mall is due to open in 2012, and that will change the landscape considerably, probably for the better.
the 'large bank building' about 100 metres from huafa is actually houses (also hua fa). named 御东领岸 'yu dong ling an' and i suspect that many other shops will follow and move there as its right next to the new huafa shopping centre and much cheaper than hua fa new town.
We moved to Century City and have been going back to New Town to buy things whilst we wait for the Mall over here to open. In the meantime, we are buying meat etc from Carrefore or Jusco and veggies/fruit etc from the wet market mentioned above, it's cheap and the foods are fat better than the old supermarkets!
Nanping has 2 supermarkets, the one upstairs in the mini-mall is actually quite good.
Another alternative, head south out of HuaFa, cross the big intersection and walk 500 metres, turn right and another 100 metres to your left is a big market building. It is a small market, but the veg' are fresh and the people are so very friendly...
Across the road from there are cycle shops, hardware and 'corner-shops', and several other shops/restaurants are in the area...
The new shopping mall in Huafa Century looks really impressive....
Well, I spoke too soon. My wife says that Jane's Place and the supermarket (Vanguard) have both closed. Have they gone somewhere close by?
Jane's Place is still open. Was in there yesterday. Not sure about the supermarket though
The place where Kabova used to be is now a rental center for the empty shops. I guess that is good news as at least they are going to rent it out, but it also means that noone was lined up for renting it, so its probably some months ago.
And yes, Janes is still open, but today at lunch time they were out of part of the ingredients for making burgers.
They have a massive banner up above the rental office with a glaring error in the English ("Huanfa" instead of "Huafa"), which seems bizarre, considering the sums of money changing hands.
The Dongbei restaurant is shutting down soon, and relocating to two locations: one at Huafa Century City, and the other somewhere near the Nanping bridge.
Okay, Like I said , the Decline of Convenience. Now in addition to the first floor Jane's closing, and the Supermarket, and the Dongbei Restaurant and the Hunan Restaurant they have now announced the Children's school will close and move to another location at the end of next month. So the once very convenient Huafa is a shell of its former self. Those of us that have bought houses there can of course drive to Carrefour or the Jusco (Jusco will close in January of next year by the way), but it is just inconvenient, particularly with the bridges situation. So until 2012 and probably the end of 2012 at the earliest, the new mall will open . I forget when was the grand opening of Huafa Century mall..... has not occurred yet has it and that was a small mall. Really a shame.
The decline of convenience ... well, first, think about what you are saying ... Jane's was out of "ingredients" for burgers? Let's think about that for a minute. And "no ingredients" is a Chinese thing. We would say NO MEAT, since that is the only ingredient you really need for a burger! New Town is only going to get worse. I wouldn't hold my breath on that mall. If you want very good advice, speak to one of the engineers on the bridge. Now that might make your eyes open a notch or two.
Hmmm ... the worm turns.
My wife and I moved to Helenbergh, just outside Zhuhai, and used to come regularly into Huafa new Town to shop at our old haunts (like Jane's place, the grocery store, etc). Now there is no grocery store in Huafa, and several restaurants will close.
At least there are two grocery stores in Helenbergh, so the centre of convenience is shifting toward our place (no doubt boosting our property value by 50% or more; right? Uh, right? ). :-)
I don't imagine that the new Huafa super mall will fill the void, offering convenience stores like grocery stores and massage parlors -- too expensive.
Too bad.
does anyone know when the huafe century city mall is supposed to open? I have the impression it will be at least another six months before all will open.. over 80% of the shops are still empty and no work has started yet... only a handfull of shops are being worked on or have finished..;
china construction bank has opened its office... there is a pseudo apple shop that is finished .. some kind of spa .. and that is about it .. there are 4 or 5 shops that are being worked on .. all the rest is just sitting empty with no work being done ..
guess it will take at least 6 months or more before all will be finished!
Many Foreign Owned restaurants are about to open in December and January.
The Grand opening has been delayed, it is true, but I think it was the right decision not to rush and to wait until they could find enough quality business owners.
This past week, Hua Fa New Town has lost 2 more restaurants and the remaining grocery-shop has taken over the place where Yummy Yummy was until recently.
Does anyone know how the outlook for new shops are, or do we have to wait for the shopping center to be done in the future?
They need to build overpass. The traffic getting in and out is horrible. specially during commute hours
During the last week, one more restaurant closed, leaving only Jane's Places as a place to eat out in Hua Fa New Town. Luckily it looks as if the bridge to the city is opening soon so it will get easier to get to the city.
Or go to Huafa Century City...
Looks like the bridge is open today, judging by the traffic shooting past my window.
It's a pity about the closure of the restaurants, especially the Dongbei and Dim Sum places, which always seemed to do such good business. Amazingly, the overpriced health food shop on the corner is still going strong, despite having virtually no customers. The business logic behind this is bewildering.
Despite Huafa looking like a ghost town these days, there are apparently THREE Japanese restaurants. One is next to Jane's Cafe, there's another one in Phase 1, and also on the boat by the river, which used to be a Hunan restaurant. Does anyone have any experience eating at any of these three places?
In case you have not catch on Huafa just going to keep build up new development while letting old development run down. It's a good way to create new business. I guess it can be the same for any the developers. The river near Century City heavily polluted by factories in ZhongShan even tough Zhuhai claim it has clean it up.
@ crispin
Business logic is the ultimate oxymoron in China. I have many examples, but here is my latest.....
I have been renting a small one person virtual office in Jida. I had a six month lease which just expired. I really liked the office and wanted to extend the lease. Ha! The landlord had at least 6 empty offices just like mine, so what does he do? He tries to increase my rent by 50%!
I told him I would be happy to extend my lease under the current terms, but he said no. I said, ok, you now have 7 empty offices to deal with. To my feeble mind it is about supply and demand. You can raise prices when there is strong demand, but you can not when there is an over supply. The landlord should have bent over backwards to keep me in the office.
It sounds like a face issue in both cases.
A businessman thinks he can be smart by increasing the rent. To then reduce rent later would be to admit to others that your business strategy was flawed.
In this economy, jacking up rental prices seems to be a rather foolhardy move.
Then again, maybe in both cases they are playing the long game. I find it hard to believe people can get so rich and successful without some kind of business nous and acumen.
Unusually numerous bugs are to be expected in red capitalism. Who is John Galt?
Looks like Hua Fa new town will soon experience an incline in convenience. Does anyone know what will be in the space where the De Yi supermarket was? There is a new "super"market/grocery store on the way next to the new Kabova.
Thankfully the shortage of estate agents is now almost at an end. .
Hi
Just a heads up from a observant consumer. The new Free Life "supermarket" in Hua Fa New Town has now been open for over a week, looks like there are lots of people shopping there. The prices there are quite high compared to other places. E.g. a bottle of yogurt that is about 22RMB in CarreFour is 27RMB in Free Life. For other things, prices are on par with other shops. Depending on what the shopping needs are, a taxi to a CarreFour, Vanguard or Jusco could be funded by the saving. That being said. Its great with a clean, organised shop that does have a section of "organic" vegetables. (oh, to any Danes, they have Grøn Tuborg)
On the plus side. Since living in China has given me the bad habit of bringing the dog to places such as a grocery-store, I was happy to get asked to leave from Free Life and never bring the dog in there again. I hope they will keep up that policy
We went to Free Life and compared prices with D supermarket, Carrefour, Jusco, Vanguard and a few more local brands. Fruit and vegetables seem to be the same as everywhere else. But what Morten said - some of the items are overpriced. E.g. They sell imported macaroni for 24 (or was it 27?) and the same brand in Carrefour is between 12+ and 17+. I guess because the items are imported, they price them higher. But it's good to know Huafa New Town has a supermarket again and they also offer Chinese lunch/dinner items. They seem fresh and well-priced.
I was hoping that Free Life would have a better selectioon of wine and beer but it just seems to stick with local Great wall, and no doubt the incrediable wine year of "1999". As for the macaroni we could still get it at Jane's Place the prices for pasta is not a huge difference than Carrefour if not it is the same.
Yes the new mall will open in 2012. The shops are not there however. There is one commercial street and more shops and restaurants will close. After the next round of evictions on the ground level there will be 1 Cantonese restaurant open and the bank. Jane's remains on the second floor and has gone back to a smoking venue. Fusion still has time on their lease and it is a good place as Kingsley does a good job there . But yes, for now it is taxis and driving to Carrefour for the foreseeable future of at least 6 month. The Taiwanese group's goal is to sell to one individual and if that cannot be accomplished refurb the places and maybe turn it into a huafa century type mall, gucci, Prada and the like.