Shhh. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of wind whistling through the abandoned malls of America as the Cassandras of contemporary retail cry their doom through corridors lined by fronds of lonely greenery: the end of a way of shopping, and all that.

嘘。听到了吗?这是呼啸的风穿过废弃的美国购物中心的声音，当代零售业的末日预言家们，在一排排陈列孤独绿植的过道里宣告它们的末日：一种购物方式终结了，所有这一切都终结了。

But train your ears toward another direction. In Asia, an entirely different story is being sung: one full of glimmer and potential; one that is not limited to luxury products but treats all customers as if they were buying luxury; one in which consumers are drawn like magnets to the physical reality of a — what to call it? Not a bazaar, really, or an arcade, or a plaza. An immersive aesthetic experience with shopping as a byproduct, perhaps.

但是把你的耳朵转向另一个方向。在亚洲，一个完全不同的故事正在上演：这是一个充满希望和潜力的故事;它不局限于奢侈品，而是把所有顾客都当作奢侈品买家一样对待;这样一个实体地点像磁铁一样吸引着消费者——该怎么称呼它呢?不是集市、不是商场、也不是购物中心。也许，这是一种沉浸式审美体验，购物只是它的副产品。

In Shanghai, the Shanghai Village, an outlet shopping complex created by Value Retail (founder of Bicester Village in Oxford, England) in a Disney resort area, stretches for 473,612 square feet across the waterfront, its gleaming Art Deco promenades lined by 200 trees and featuring bathroom lounges covered in swirling mosaics in the styles of different artists and so eye-popping they are actually booked for local events on their own.

In Seoul, the 30,140-square-foot library in the COEX Mall includes approximately 50,000 books and magazines to browse, and offers couches and reading tables for passers-by as well as serving as a venue for cultural events.

上海的奕欧来上海购物村(Shanghai Village)是一个零售购物中心，由维泰集团(Value Retail，英国牛津的比斯特购物村[Bicester Village]的创建者)在迪士尼景区兴建，它占据了473612平方英尺(约合4.4万平米)的滨水地带，闪亮的装饰艺术风格步行道两旁列着200棵树，它的卫生间休息室内镶嵌着各种艺术家风格的旋动马赛克图案，惊人到本身也成为举办本地一些活动的场所。在首尔，COEX商场(COEX Mall)内有一座30140平方英尺(约合2800平米)的图书馆，大约有5万册图书和杂志可供浏览，还为路人提供沙发和阅读桌，并举办文化活动。

To name a few.

这只是其中的几个例子。

Together, these projects embody a new way of thinking about the physical space where stores congregate, one that borrows from the online playbook: prioritizing the idea of content over contents, and further demonstrating the way in which the real and virtual worlds increasingly intertwine. Not because they offer video screens or iPads for ordering (though they are on hand) but because of a more fundamental conceptual connectivity.

这些项目都体现了一种对商店聚集的实体空间的全新思考方式，它借鉴了网络经营的方式：优先考虑内容的概念，而不是内容本身，进一步展示真实世界和虚拟世界如何日益交织在一起。这不是因为它们提供了视频屏幕或iPad(虽然它们就在手头)，而是因为它们提供更基本的概念性连接。

“It’s a core reality shift,” said Scott Malkin, the founder and chairman of Value Retail. “The war is over. Alibaba won. That means physical retail is no longer about the distribution of goods but building brand equity.”

“这是一个核心现实的转变，”维泰集团创始人兼董事长斯科特·马尔金(Scott Malkin)说。“战争结束了。阿里巴巴赢了。这意味着实体零售不再是分销商品，而是建立品牌资产。

And brand equity is created via the subliminal communication of ephemeral values: service and touch — what Mr. Malkin calls “the software” that surrounds the “hardware” of bricks and mortar (and marble and sandstone) reality. Which then becomes the place, he said, “where the interface behavior occurs.”

品牌价值是通过无形价值的下意识交流创造出来的：服务和格调——马尔金称之为“软件”，它们依附于砖块和灰泥(以及大理石和砂岩)所创造的现实“硬件”。他说，这就形成了“相互作用的行为发生的地方”。

“The context for stores is more and more important,” said Luca Solca, head of luxury goods research at Exane BNP Paribas, “because you have to make people want to get out of their homes and away from their screens.

“商店的环境越来越重要，”法国巴黎银行(Exane BNP Paribas)奢侈品研究主管卢卡·索尔卡(Luca Solca)说。“因为你得让人们想要走出家门，远离屏幕。”

“It’s not just about the store itself,” he added. “It’s retail counter-standardization.”

“这不只是商店本身的问题，”他补充道。“这是零售反标准化。”

If the old model — the merch emporium — gave way during the turn of the millennium to the flagship model, which saw stores become echoing and somewhat austere temples where consumers worshiped the handbag on the plinth, we are now entering a new stage. One embodied more by Apple or Starbucks than any previous fashion retail space.

如果说老式的大百货商场在世纪之交让位于旗舰店模式，店铺变成了宽敞的、有些峻冷的殿堂，供消费者膜拜放在基座上的手袋，那么现在我们正进入一个新阶段。苹果(Apple)或星巴克(Starbucks)比以往任何的时尚零售空间都更能体现这一点。

One that takes the rising principles of the experience economy and the growing belief that millennial consumers — who hate anything smacking of marketing or overt product pushing — are increasingly choosing to spend their money on the unique event rather than on the aspirational product, and applies them to shopping.

这个模式采用体验经济的新兴原则和越来越强大的信念，即千禧一代消费者厌恶任何带有营销或强行推销意味的举动，正越来越多地选择把钱花在独特的事件而不是梦寐以求的产品上，进而把它们应用于购物。

One that says investing in a value system that surrounds the shopping experience will pay off in consumption. Because instead of taking home a postcard or a T-shirt to remember the visit, you take home a Prada shoe, or a Dior dress.

一种说法是，投资于围绕购物体验的价值体系，将在消费中获得回报。因为你带回家的不是一张明信片或者一件T恤，而是普拉达(Prada)的鞋子或迪奥(Dior)的裙子。

Mr. Cheng first began exploring these principles in 2009 in his K-11 Art Mall developments in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which originally combined art and shopping elements — a mix of high and consumer culture previously seen as heretical — and then expanded from there. The Shanghai Art Mall, for example, includes an urban farm where visitors can grow herbs that they eventually take home for their dinner. It’s not an obvious sales driver but, Mr. Cheng said on stage at The New York Times International Luxury conference in Hong Kong last week, foot traffic went up dramatically after it was opened.

2009年，郑志刚在香港、上海和广州的K-11购物艺术中心开发项目中首次探索这些原则。该项目最初是将艺术和购物元素结合在一起，它进行了高雅文化和消费文化的融合，这在以前被视为一种异端的想法——然后在此基础上进行扩张。例如，上海的K11购物艺术中心有一个城市农场，游人可以在那里种植各种香草，最后带回家用于烹制晚饭。郑志刚上周在香港举行的《纽约时报》国际奢侈品大会(New York Times International Luxury conference)上说，这并非一个显而易见的销售推动力，但开业后客流量大幅上升。

Not that the point was “about traffic,” Mr. Cheng said. “It’s about building a community. About grooming the audience and having access to their behavior, which then continues online.” The farm is the bait, in a sense.

这不是“客流量问题”，郑志刚说。“这是关于建立一个社区，关于如何培养观众，以及了解他们的行为，然后在线上继续。从某种意义上说，那个农场就是个诱饵。

Just whatever you do, don’t call it a “shopping center.”

无论你做什么，不要称它为“购物中心”就是了。