Quancheng Road is not long—just 1,560 meters. Yet in the eyes of longtime Jinan residents, it is far from short—spanning a century of vicissitudes and witnessing the prosperity of an entire city.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, government offices stood in rows and merchants came and went here. In 1955, the Jinan Department Store rose from the ground, elevating the commercial atmosphere of the entire city. In 2002, Quancheng Road was widened and reopened, drawing 2 million visitors during the National Day holiday. Sanlian, Suning, and Gome fought fiercely side by side, and the title of "Qilu's No. 1 Home Appliance Street" rose to fame. "Buy home appliances, go to Sanlian" became a memory for a generation. Photo: Quancheng Road commercial district's Spring Festival consumer promotion event. (Provided by Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office)

But the fate of a commercial street has never depended on its location alone to remain prosperous forever. In the late 2010s, the rise of e-commerce, the expansion of shopping complexes, and shifting consumer habits pushed the commercial district into an ebb tide: Guihe Department Store closed in 2017, Walmart bowed out in 2019, Isetan and Parkson withdrew one after another, the Sanlian Building sat vacant after changing its signage, and Gome shut its doors…… At its lowest point, the commercial area vacancy rate of key buildings exceeded 18%. Some sighed: "An era has passed without even saying goodbye."

Looking back at this history, Quancheng Road's predicament lay in a "triple mismatch": Business format mismatch—traditional home appliance stores only piled up goods without creating experiences, squeezed by online pricing and fulfillment efficiency; Ownership mismatch—independent property rights and each fighting alone meant the district had foot traffic but no operations, merchants but no ecosystem, management but no governance; Governance mismatch—buildings belonged to buildings and streets belonged to streets, and the four streams of government, merchants, residents, and tourists could not converge into a joint force.

To break through, one cannot simply make additions—it is necessary to map out the base and activate the underlying assets. Photo: Quarterly meeting of the Quancheng Road Commercial District Party Committee. (Provided by Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office)

Government Leadership: First Clarify Positioning, Then Gather Carriers

The approach of Lixia District and Quancheng Road Subdistrict was to carry out foundational work. By analyzing the commercial district's positioning, resource introduction, and operational methods, they repositioned an ordinary commercial street into a composite of "culture-tourism-commerce integration + consumer electronics cluster + smart governance." Since 2023, a total of 120,000 square meters of idle carriers have been revitalized, the commercial area vacancy rate of key buildings has dropped from 18.28% to 7.8%, and 1,536 new market entities have been added, including 16 enterprises with revenue exceeding 100 million yuan and nearly 100 city-level first stores. In 2023, Quancheng Road was recognized as one of the first batch of national demonstration smart commercial districts, the only one in Shandong. In 2024, Sanlian Home Appliances returned to the Golden Street, JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) Electric's city flagship first store landed, Suning.com's Pro store was upgraded, and the four major brands of Sanlian, JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), Suning, and Inzone reunited.

"It's not about the government choosing winners and losers for the market, but about preparing space, data, policies, and credit so that good brands are willing to come and able to stay," said the head of the Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office. Photo: Sanlian Home Appliances returns to the Golden Street. (Provided by Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office)

Creating More Scenarios: Not Just Selling Products, But Selling Lifestyle

For enterprises to decide to come back, the prerequisite is proactive adaptation. JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) created a "one-stop home setup"; Inzone Appliances tore down category walls and rebuilt family scenarios; vivo turned its imaging gallery into an AI creation space…… Stores no longer compete over who has the loudest voice or the brightest posters, but instead let consumers first find "home" and then ask about prices. In the first month of the 2025 digital product purchase subsidy, the sales volume of 3C products by designated electronic retail enterprises in the subdistrict increased significantly; JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) Electric's 3C product sales grew by 500%, and customer traffic at Suning.com's Pro store increased fivefold. This Spring Festival, the commercial district welcomed 5.2454 million visitors and generated 320 million yuan in sales. Practice has proven that physical stores have not been eliminated by e-commerce—what has been eliminated are traditional business formats that only display without experiencing and only collect payment without serving. Photo: Establishment of the Quancheng Road Consumer Electronics Industry Cluster Party Committee and Industry Alliance. (Provided by Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office)

Social Participation: Weaving a Dense Network, Lifting Up a Sky Full of Stars

What makes Quancheng Road special is that "there are alleys within the street, courtyards within the alleys, and buildings within the courtyards," naturally compounding governance difficulty. The subdistrict integrated the commercial district with the old city to form four-party co-governance:

—Party building leadership. A commercial district Party Committee and a consumer electronics industry cluster Party Committee were established. The 28 buildings were divided into 7 grids with red building committees, and 2,897 enterprises and 856 individually owned businesses were brought under grid management.

—Grid governance. Hutong stewards and alley stewards were deployed around Furong Street and the Fuxue Confucian Temple. The small courtyard tea stall and the Quancheng Siheyuan deliberation hall, by advocating "family harmony, business harmony, affairs harmony, heart harmony," resolve disputes over a cup of warm tea.

—Digital governance. The smart commercial district provides foot traffic and consumer profiles, automatically issuing warnings when instantaneous foot traffic on Furong Street exceeds 5,000; "Love Shandong" online pre-review and electronic license exemption from submission keep enterprise services online around the clock.

—Community co-governance. The "Four HE Courtyard" consultation and deliberation, the "merchant-resident-tourist" tripartite linkage, and delivery riders entering warm-hearted service stations ensure that original residents, shop owners, and outside visitors each find convenience. Photo: "Small Courtyard Tea Stall" inviting residents and merchant representatives for consultation and deliberation. (Provided by Quancheng Road Subdistrict Office)

Results and Insights: Old Commercial District Reborn, New Logic Takes Shape

In 2024, the subdistrict explored and formed the JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) enterprise-friendly model of "efficiently handling one thing" covering investment services, license processing, personnel recruitment, and opening announcements. In 2025, 439 enterprises were introduced, and eight indicators including designated retail sales ranked among the top three in Lixia District in terms of growth rate.

What has changed is not just the numbers, but the underlying logic:

First, to revive an old commercial district, governance must be repaired before business formats. Quancheng Road used Party building leadership to build grids, doing a good job with "people"; then digital empowerment to activate the utility of "things." Plant the parasol tree, and the phoenix will come.

Second, traditional business formats are not being eliminated—they need to be redefined. Home appliance stores become scenario labs, jewelry streets become first-store matrices, and Furong Street becomes a "bustling life + cultural tourism" reception hall. Offline commerce is transforming from a trading venue into an "experience venue, trust venue, and urban memory venue."

Third, the advanced form of a business environment is an industrial ecosystem. Policies, finance, talent, data, cultural tourism, and urban management no longer fight alone: startup loans are delivered directly to buildings, and the first-store economy captures cultural tourism traffic. What enterprises want is not just whether a single window is fast, but how far a street can walk with them.

"There is no mountain higher than man, nor any road longer than the foot." In the golden autumn holiday week, returning to Quancheng Road, what lies beneath the bluestone slabs is still the root of Quancheng, while what is displayed on the building screens is a new consumer atmosphere. The experience of the century-old Golden Street "rising from governance" tells people—the Golden Street will not revive on its own; what revives it is the resolve and resilience of "government, market, merchants, and residents" clenching their fingers into a fist and converging a hundred streams into one.

(Li Jishuang, Ye Xiaozhou)