At first look, these shops look like they sell knock-offs of famous brands.
The boulevard in Shenyang, Liaoning province, is lined with shops for luxury brands such as 'Cnanel', 'PR^D^' and 'Herwès.'
But the fake brands are nothing but a way to sell, well, the retail space itself.
The strip mall behind Wanda Square in Shenyang is managed by the Wanda Group. According to an article on OffbeatChina, a sales representative told Xinhua that the fake stores were for "marketing purposes only."
The mall, which is promoted as a “European-style pedestrian street”, is sold at RMB 44 thousand yuan per square meter.
Putting a new spin on the Chinese copycat culture, the shops are decorated as top-brand boutiques as a way of marketing to lure in more investments.
This is an abuse of registered trademarks which, strangely, was done to sell other brands.
