At the junction of Wujin Road, North Sichuan Road, Hongkou District, a commercial block composed of eight lanes, eight independent buildings, and 60 Shikumen houses, is now a chao 8 lane, attracting tourists to stop. Tourists hold cameras and take photos and punch cards, the retro markets along the streets are bustling with a variety of goods, and the music healing space is staged with jazz and folk songs for white-collar workers to relax.
At night, small events in the cultural and artistic circle begin to be staged. The outdoor stage in the North Plaza will be held for a three-week opening season of Shencheng Haipai from the end of November, with classical or trendy artists such as soprano Huang Ying, Chinese musician Fang Jinlong, violinist Huang Mengla, and dancer Ye Yin. Art breaks the confines of the theater and creates a melody that connects the past, present and future in front of a century-old building.
In the pulse of urban renewal, how to inject new and unique content into old buildings that are repaired as old, so that they can be revitalized? This is a question that real estate developers, store operators or cultural and artistic entrepreneurs are thinking about. It's time for the traditional mindset to change. The location of Lane 8 makes its practice different.
Looking back at a hundred years of history, literature, history, publishing, aesthetic education, and commerce have all left a pioneering and brilliant stroke in this land. The Area of North Sichuan Road, where Lane 8 of the present tide is located, was the place where the left-wing cultural movement began in the 1930s, where Lu Xun, Qu Qiubai, Ding Ling and others lived. It was also the most densely populated area of cinemas in Shanghai: China's first official cinema and the first film screening took place here.
At that time, North Sichuan Road was as prosperous as Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road. However, it fell silent for a long time. The independent music writer Mo Mo was born and raised in this area, and has a deep affection for this place, so that every time he passes by after moving away, he has a feeling: "This place seems to be cursed." Years of depression have led many to question the business environment on North Sichuan Road. Cui Yiyi, the head of promotion of Lane 8 of this tide, has also encountered such a refusal, often on the grounds that "North Sichuan Road cannot do business" or "there must be insufficient flow of people to open a store".
The current heat of Lane 8 of this tide responds to the original questions from traditional businesses, and the merchants who once politely refused to turn back to discuss cooperation, and everything seems to be moving in a positive direction. However, in the changing business environment of the post-epidemic era, how to continue to attract and lock the attention of consumers in emerging business entities is not only the 8 lanes of this tide, but also the problem that every commercial entity should consider.
Open, borderless blocks are built
The decline of North Sichuan Road is inextricably linked to the fragmentation of traditional commercial centers.
As an "indigenous person" who once lived along Haining Road on North Sichuan Road, Momo is familiar with the thriving film culture here. "There is a cinema around the corner of every intersection, the International Cinema, the Victory Cinema, the Liberation Theatre... It was once the place with the highest density of cinemas in Shanghai and the birthplace of Cinemas in China. He told First Finance and Economics that this was also one of the cantonese settlements in Shanghai, "the lane where I live does not need to speak Shanghainese, as long as it speaks Cantonese." As one of the three major immigrant groups after the opening of Shanghai, the two industries controlled by Guangdong immigrants, film and commerce, have left a brilliant mark on North Sichuan Road and achieved an extraordinary field of integration and collision of culture, commerce and tourism.
In the 1990s, Momo moved away with his family, "since then, the downtown area has become completely unpopular, and the storefronts have been closed one by one, just like commercial Bermuda."
Over the years, people's impression of this place has changed from a cost-effective business district to a street selling cheap goods. "I can't get out of thinking that cheap is cheap", Cui Yiyi believes that it is better to be forced to change than to take the initiative to change. As a result, continuous "change" has become one of the characteristics of the 8 lane format of the tide, trying to reverse the old impression of consumers on North Sichuan Road.
What kind of trend can adapt to the curiosity of young people? Lane 8 of this tide has reserved 40% of the gray space to incubate new formats and brands in the form of pop-up stores. Even traditional tenants need to adapt to local content changes and meet the changing "new-hunting" sentiments of young people.
Back to the source of the prosperity of North Sichuan Road, as the tidal wave of Haipai culture, the trend spirit of a hundred years ago also inspires today's world. Cui Yiyi feels that the essence of Haipai culture lies in a spirit of creative creativity. "A hundred years ago, Mr. Lu Xun was a hipster drinking coffee on this street, chatting about those shocking stories."
In today's homogeneous business, the folding physical space of the 8 lanes of the tide also brings inspiration to the new life of the format, and the free shuttle and open spirit of the 8 lanes without boundaries make the cultural and artistic of creative creativity collide with the commercial collision of innovation and change, and create a new consumer format.
Business and culture co-creation
On December 10, ARK Live House returned to Lane 8 of the present tide, and saw the original team reunited here, and Momo was full of emotions.
20 years ago, it was ARK that brought the live house form to Chinese mainland, filling the gap in the small performance space and bringing a group of pioneering and experimental band performances to Chinese music fans. More importantly, it supported a number of local underground bands and independent bands in Shanghai, playing their Bole. "Some of them are already famous today, but they would never have come out without a venue like ARK." Momo said, "No matter what it does next, what it does, at least it comes back, it's very exciting." ”
After the ARK lands, it will be upgraded to a comprehensive live house, integrating catering, coffee and art exhibitions. Starting December 21, a musical called "Little Jack" will be performed here.
Like ARK, some of the spaces in Lane 8 of this tide that have been opened or are in preparation, such as the Meta-Universe Shiya and the Re-manufacturing Clothing Bank, are not a single format, but a cross-border and composite format that integrates a variety of commercial elements. In Cui Yiyi's view, borderlessness is the spirit of LiLang, which means free shuttle and unexpected encounters. "The content here should be active and cross-border, it is an event space, an exhibition space, and there is also retail, which represents a trendy way of life."
Just as ARK opened up a world for Shanghai independent bands and underground bands twenty years ago, Cui Yiyi described the business practice of Lane 8 as "the last kilometer of cultural and artistic commercialization". Artists such as Wang Peiyu and Cai Yiyun create content here, and on the eve of dramas, musicals and other performing arts products on the big stage, this place will become a platform for them to incubate their works and interact with the audience.
Growing from content and activities to new formats, and then promoting the development of an industry, such cases are not without successful precedents. Cui Yiyi introduced that Daning International's "small point big vision" children's drama brand was only part of the creative idea of business circle activities at first.
Seeing that Lane 8 of the present tide has become a popular punch card in Shanghai in the past period of time, Momo also hopes that the film culture of North Sichuan Road and the culture of Guangdong immigrants can be reflected here. He also observed that the area around North Sichuan Road is becoming lively with the entry of cultural and artistic brands. ARK and blue Note, a jazz music venue not far away, will likely form a linkage effect and become the beginning of the influence on the Live House format in Shanghai.
(Courtesy photo/ Lane 8 of the present tide)