New World Department Store China Limited (“NWDS” or the “Company”; Hong Kong stock code: 825), one of the largest owners and operators of department stores in the PRC, is pleased to announce that its third Beijing store, Beijing New World Liying Department Store (“Beijing Liying Store”), held its soft opening today.

Beijing Liying Store is located at Wangjing Guangshun South Road (望京广顺南大街) in Chaoyang district (朝阳区). Following the strong presences in Chongwen District (崇文区) and the central CBD of Chaoyang District, NWDS is expanding into the prosperous Wangjing District and establishing its third foothold in the city. The new store provides a new shopping landmark for the residents of Wangjing area and its surrounding communities such as Dashanzi (大山子) and Jiuxianqiao (酒仙桥). It is expected to radiate its coverage to the areas five kilometers away including Shao Yaoju (芍药居), Sun Palace (太阳宫) and the Asian Games Village etc in future. Beijing Liying Store is a six-storey department store with a gross floor area (“GFA”) of approximately 52,000 square metres (sq.m). The new managed store will bring the aggregate GFA of NWDS’s operations in Beijing with an additional area of 39% to 184,000 sq.m. The 1st to 5th floor of the department store and the supermarket on basement were opened today, while the dining areas are expected to be in full operation by November 2008.

Beijing Liying Store is positioned in the market as a middle-end to high-end department store. The new store contains more than 300 local and international brands, with one-third of which are introduced in the Wangjing area for the first time, bringing a unique brand experience to consumer. Large thematic cafés, renowned coffee shops and multinational restaurants are introduced, providing customers with high quality and diversified choices of cuisines, bringing a competitive edge to the store. Meanwhile, in order to provide a considerate service to customers, the new store has prepared thoughtful facilities for parents and their children, inclusive of toy city, parent-child toilet, children entertainment zone, baby carriage and supermarket cart for kids etc. The store also contains dispensary, beauty & hair salon, gymnasium and leisure areas etc, in which it is consolidated as an exquisite department store with leisure, entertainment, shopping and dining under one roof, satisfying the needs of every family member.

Commenting on the new Beijing store, Mr. Adrian Cheng, Executive Director of NWDS, said, “We have established our foothold in Beijing for over ten years since 1998. Capitalizing on our advantages in this city, we believe that Beijing Liying Store can further expand our market share in the Northern China region and yet speed up our expansion pace in China. Looking forward, we will continue to execute our three-fold expansion plan by looking for prime location for new stores, expanding the existing department stores, as well as striving for acquisition of managed stores with excellent performance, so as to achieve our growth mission.”

Mr. Philip Cheung, Executive Director and Managing Director of NWDS, added, “Beijing is the core city for our development in Northern China. The new Beijing Liying Store aligns with our expansion strategy of ‘multiple presences within a single city’ by opening store in prosperous city to enjoy cost efficacy and synergy. Currently, we have five department stores in the Northern China region including the Beijing Liying Store. Each store optimizes its product portfolio to satisfy the needs of target customers in different commercial circles. Concurrently we also utilize the ‘radiation’ strategy to expand our foothold to neighbouring cities and provinces, so as to further consolidate and reinforce our influence in Northern China.”

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