Studio X designed two China Mobile flagships in Hong Kong, built around 5G and IoT rather than handset transactions.

Studio X created a new retail concept for China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world with almost a billion subscribers, and delivered it as two Hong Kong flagship stores.

Process

Concept Design

Schematic Design

Detail Design

Tender Documentation

Tender Management

Construction Support

Post-Completion Review

The brief began with a question rather than a layout: was the existing store concept still aligned to the business? We took the view that it was not. The stores were built around handsets, SIM cards and accessories - a sales-led environment for a company whose future lay in 5G and the Internet of Things. Our concept moved them from selling to teaching.

The first store opened on the corner of Des Voeux Road and Pottinger Street in Central, at 3,000 sqft. The second followed on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, at 2,500 sqft. Both are arranged over two levels, and both give an entire showroom to 5G-enabled technology - gesture-controlled robotic arms, augmented and mixed reality gaming, and smart home systems - so that customers could experience the network rather than be told about it.

China Mobile flagship store interior with circular pendant lighting, product displays, and a customer using an interactive kiosk.

A restrained material palette and ordered display system create a calm backdrop for an evolving mix of devices, digital content and 5G experiences.

Immersive 5G experience zone in the China Mobile flagship store with data visualisations projected on the walls around a central illuminated display pedestal.

Immersive projection and interactive media turn the evolution from 3G to 5G into a physical experience, making an otherwise invisible technology tangible to customers.

China Mobile flagship store reception area with cylindrical product displays under circular pendant lighting.

Upstairs, the showroom shifts from mobile devices to the wider 5G ecosystem, presenting IoT products and connected technologies within a more domestic, exploratory setting.

One concept, delivered twice. The design was developed as a system so that the second store could be rolled out without redesigning the first.

Staircase within the China Mobile flagship store lit by angled linear ceiling strips, leading down to the retail floor.

Exterior view of a China Mobile flagship storefront at dusk, with a black facade and illuminated signage.

Selected views

Images from both stores, showing the IoT showroom, the two-level circulation and the shift from transactional counters to demonstration space.

China Mobile flagship store interior with circular ceiling lighting above service counters and staff assisting customers.

(Approach)A telecoms store where the product is invisible. The design had to make an intangible network something a customer could walk into, touch and understand.

Progress

A record of the project as it developed on site, capturing key construction milestones from first fix through to completion.

Installation of the mirrored ceiling feature designed to add depth and reflection overhead.

Construction workers fitting out the China Mobile flagship store, with partition framing and exposed services overhead.

Construction progress in the upper-floor 5G showroom, with the layered ceiling and display environment taking shape.

Partition walls under construction at the China Mobile flagship store, with exposed ceiling ductwork and wiring above.

Interior partitions and services taking shape on site at China Mobile.

Drawings & details

Selected drawings and technical studies developed to test layout, circulation and the split of retail and demonstration space across two levels.

Isometric concept render of the China Mobile flagship store showing a colourful digital wave display integrated into the ceiling above the product tables.

Floor plan for one of the two flagship stores, arranged over two levels with an entire floor devoted to the 5G showroom rather than transactional counters.

Technical elevation drawing of a signage post detail with a human figure shown for scale, for the China Mobile flagship store.

A sketched birdseye studying how the hero mid-floor fixture relates to the technology demonstration bay behind it.

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Technical cross-section drawing of a display column and wall junction for the China Mobile flagship store fit-out.

Concept planogram sketches to help us determine the arrangement and hierarchy of merchandise.

Before & after

Use the slider to see the transformation from bare shell to completed store.

Bare concrete shell of the China Mobile flagship store before fit-out, with exposed walls and no interior finishes.

Drag

A store designed to explain a network rather than sell a handset - and built twice from the same set of rules.

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Both stores sit in prime CBD locations - Central and the Tsim Sha Tsui retail spine - where the cost of floor space demands that every square foot earns its place. Rather than fill that space with stock, we gave it to demonstration: an entire showroom dedicated to 5G-enabled IoT, from gesture-enabled robotic arms to augmented and mixed reality gaming and smart home technology.

Studio X's scope ran from concept design through schematic and detail design, tender documentation and on-site management. Because the concept was developed as a repeatable system rather than a single fit-out, the second store could be delivered without starting again.