Alexander Li: Pioneering a New Luxury Landscape at Landmark

With experiences driving the growth in luxury, HongKong Land’s Alexander Li tells Prestige how Landmark is making moves to re-envision the retail scene.  

In the heyday of luxury e-commerce, the prospect of shopping for anything and everything – from your favourite high-street brands to fine jewellery and watches – was an exciting one, just as the ease of having stuff shipped to their doorstep at the click of a button had consumers questioning the need of ever setting foot in bricks-and-mortar stores again. 

But how times have changed. Whereas 10 years ago luxury was all about ownership, what’s been driving it in the last few years is experiences. In other words, it’s less about showing off ownership of luxury goods than the journey to getting said goods – and that involves everything from first-hand experiences to a brand’s client-
services offerings. 

Because of this, shopping destinations are back – and in a big way. Luxury brands with clear foresight have quickly moved to establish “houses” and “maisons” that more resemble living rooms than stores, where products are virtually out of sight. Developers, too, are seeking to offer new retail experiences for their tenants and shopping clients, in which luxury, hospitality, art and culture are closely intertwined. But the recent announcement of HongKong Land’s mega transformation of its Landmark location is possibly the most ambitious project yet – one that completely reimagines the retail scene in Hong Kong.

Alexander Li, chief retail officer of HongKong Land, strongly believes that Tomorrow’s CENTRAL is the boost of energy Hong Kong needs. “I’m a natural optimist, but from all the conversations I’ve had with tenants, with the F&B industry, our entrepreneurs and customers, there’s so much belief in the city,” he says. “The Hong Kong spirit is something I see every day at my job. People like Syed Asim Hussain at Black Sheep Restaurants, or Kevin Poon and Gerald Li at Leading Nation, they’ve got so much belief in what we’re trying to do together. And luxury brands –  obviously they believe in the project otherwise they wouldn’t be investing in it.”

HongKong Land announced the combined US1 billion project, Tomorrow’s CENTRAL, in June, with US$400 million in strategic investment from the developer and an additional US$600 million capital investment from Landmark’s retail tenants to achieve the transformation of Landmark in three phases. Top-tier brands including Cartier, Chanel, Dior, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Saint Laurent, Sotheby’s, Tiffany & Co and Van Cleef & Arpels have committed to create world-class destinations within Landmark, called Maisons.

“We’ve been talking about the key drivers of luxury growth, one of which is experiential luxury, where luxury brands are increasingly integrating experiences and hospitality, moving beyond just products,” says Li. “Brands have woken up to how key it is to focus on VICs, the importance of the very loyal client. So now a single brand has ready-to-wear, jewellery, fragrance, beauty, leather, and even hospitality and hotels. Brands are thinking about all the possible touch points to reach their consumers.”

And while Li calls the 10 Maisons “critical foundational parts of the whole of Tomorrow’s CENTRAL, “we also have another 190 tenants on the retail and F&B sides, who contribute to the project and will evolve with us. It’s a dialogue.”

Once complete, the transformation will see 30 brand-new F&B offerings, the creation of a jewellery and watch boulevard along Chater Road and a new beauty universe in Landmark’s basement. The current office lobby will be moved to the third floor. HongKong Land’s own BESPOKE loyalty programme will also be revamped to offer more private spaces and personalised services to loyal customers. The first phase of Tomorrow’s CENTRAL has already begun with the opening of Sotheby’s in July – 24,000-square-feet of gallery and exhibition spaces that allow visitors to immerse themselves in the world of art and auctions. 

HongKong Land has a proven record of delivering unheard-of concepts spectacularly and successfully. Basehall, for example, takes the idea of a food court and turns it on its head. “We went to every possible part of Hong Kong to find those truly local flavours and bring them to Central,” says Li. “We fitted out the kitchens and, essentially, F&B operators can plug and play. We’re the first in Hong Kong to develop a model like that and many operators wouldn’t have thought they’d be able to present themselves in Central in this kind of location and offer this kind of experience to their customers.”

And so, as Li says with a wink in his eye, “the new office lobby is more than just a lift lobby”, just as the beauty universe is going to be “more than just beauty shop counters”. But the team is staying mum about what all that will be for now. We’ll just have to wait to see the complete transformation for ourselves in 2027.

“There are the two L’s of HongKong Land, which are leading and luxury,” says Li. “It runs deep in our DNA and we’re leading a new global benchmark. With Tomorrow’s CENTRAL, Landmark will become a new global benchmark for what a luxury lifestyle destination is.”