Here's what local news sources are reporting about retail property in the Asia-Pacific region:
• American jeweller Tiffany & Co. will open its first Singapore store, a two-level, 5,000-square-foot unit at ION Orchard mall. Superyachts
• Japan is testing a technology that will allow tourists visiting for the upcoming Olympic Games to make purchases via fingerprint. Consumers will be able to make payments by scanning two fingers on a special reader, eliminating the need to carry cash or credit cards. Finextra
• Spanish retailer Zara signed a lease for a 50,000-square-foot store in South Mumbai's Flora Fountain on the ground floor of the Ismail Building. The Rs 30 crore ($4.5 million) lease runs for a minimum of 15 years. The Economic Times
• Singapore is seeing an influx of gourmet supermarkets, including Secrets Fine Food in Tiong Bahru; Little Farms at Valley Point Shopping Centre; Midtown Mart in Marina Square; and Big Box's Hypermart in Jurong East. Straits Times
• Sunway Shopping Malls is busy leasing the newest retail component of its 2.3 hectare Sunway Velocity mixed-use property in Cheras, Malaysia. The retail centre is to be called Sunway Velocity Mall when it opens at year end with 92,903 square metres of space. The Star
• Undeterred by an economic slowdown in China, Malaysian developer Parkson Retail Group Ltd will open Lion Mall, in Qingdao, China, later this month. The firm bought the 230,000-square-metre property for RM905 million ($233 million). Malaysia Chronicle
• China has raised taxes on consumer goods bought overseas, giving local retailers a chance to win back sales lost to such tourist destinations as Hong Kong, Korea and the Middle East in recent years. Shanghai Daily
• Singapore's Ministry of National Development is providing loans and support for entrepreneurs who want to open their own stores in Housing & Development Board estates. Called the Revitalisation of Shops (ROS) scheme, the programme has a budget of about S$15 million ($11 million) per year. Channel News Asia
• UAE-based hypermarket chain Lulu Group will invest Rs50 billion ($72 million) building malls in India over the next four years. The retailer is looking at sites in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram and other markets in southern India. Times of Oman
• Bunnings, Coles, David Jones, IKEA, Myer and Woolworthsare increasingly searching for smaller-format sites in Sydney to get closer to time-pressed consumers. Woolworths will open a 310-square-metre store on York Street, its smallest supermarket ever. Sydney Morning Herald
• Swiss luxury leather goods label Bally opened a flagship store in Tokyo's upscale Ginza neighborhood, at the new Tokyu Plaza building. The two-level, 845-square-metre store is part of a global rollout of 15 stores. The Travel Retail Business
• Japanese real estate firm Mitsui Fudosan has taken a 50 per cent–stake in a 1.4 million-square-foot retail centre to be a part of Eco World Development Group's Bukit Bintang City Centre. The latter is a 19.4-acre mixed-use project set to open in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The Star
• Indian developer DLF Ltd. has started streamlining and re-structuring its retail portfolio for possible sale or perhaps the formation of a REIT. The Bengaluru-based firm plans to sell off a stake in its office properties as well in a bid to pay off debts. Live Mint
• Asian investors are hesitant to put money into UK properties due to the uncertainty caused by the nation's possible "Brexit" from the European Union. Commercial property volumes have declined 35 per cent year on year in the first quarter, according to JLL. “There’s a sense of nervousness from both the buyer and seller’s sides because it is unquantifiable what a ‘Brexit’ would mean for the UK economy,” said David Green-Morgan, global capital markets research director at JLL. “It’s so complicated that you can’t put a finger on which way things will go, and this uncertainty is what investors hate the most.” Channel News Asia