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Sanlitun an epicenter for dedicated followers of fashion, bookworms
2020-09-05 
[Photo provided to China Daily]

Beijing's core district of Chaoyang has long been known as a center for its many foreign embassies, vibrant nightlife and cafe culture, as well as its ever-growing central business district. And as a natural result, Chaoyang is home to some of the finest shopping, not just in China itself, but in the whole world.

Day in and day out, Chaoyang district's fashion hub of Sanlitun throbs with activity as well-heeled and stylish shoppers flit from flagship stores to restaurants to luxury and independent boutiques to fulfill their every shopping need.

Sanlitun features the largest Adidas store in Asia, coffee chain Star-bucks' flagship outlet on the Chinese mainland and Apple's first store in China.

Just southeast of Sanlitun, Chaoyang's enviable SKP Beijing shopping mall, with its reputation for high-end fashion and luxury, has it all. On any day of the week, wealthy Chinese shoppers can be seen lining up outside stores such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel among many others.

According to a ranking released by Chinese business media Linkshop and the Commercial Real Estate and Retail Journal in March, SKP Beijing was the biggest and most productive retailer in China in 2019 with 15.3 billion yuan ($2.24 billion) in revenue.

The department store opened its design-led of shoot SKP-S Beijing, just opposite SKP Beijing, in December. The shopping mall presents a new benchmark in luxury shopping with a vast array of artistic displays including a flock of animatronic sheep, and an automated sculpture machine that lathes blocks of styrofoam inside a giant glass box creating a larger-than-life snow globe effect.

According to the Sybarite Report 2019-the Future of Luxury Retail, SKP Beijing was the world's second-most productive store after Harrods in London, with annual retail sales per square foot hitting $1,997 in 2018.

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Heading northwest from SKP to Parkview Green, another shopping mall in Chaoyang district that also doubles as an art gallery and museum, another unique shopping experience is created.

As the name implies, it is an eco-friendly building dotted with contemporary artworks, imposing sculptures and avant-garde paintings.

Technical consultancy Arup said: "Parkview Green is one of China's largest sustainable architecture projects. Not only is it the first structure in Beijing designed to be environmentally sustainable, but it is also the first to make use of a 'microclimate' as a means of minimizing energy consumption throughout a building's lifetime."

Elsewhere, brick-and-mortar bookstores have risen in prominence in Chaoyang in recent years as modern Chinese shoppers seek a nostalgic and relaxed atmosphere to browse literary content old and new.

The Page One bookstore specializes in English titles and has three branches in the capital, two of them located in Chaoyang district.

One Way Street Library, founded in Beijing by several intellectuals in 2006, has opened a new branch in Chaoyang Joy City, attracting scores of fashionable young people.

In Sanlitun, the 24-hour bookstore Sanlian Taofen's new branch has become a landmark since opening in 2018.

A China Daily piece in 2019 noted that young people can be seen sitting with their laptops, engrossed, around desks inside the 700-squaremeter store that stocks some 20,000 kinds of books.

"We come here quite often, and it is my best location to wrap up my daily work," said a young customer surname Zhang, who lives close to the bookstore. "It is the only quiet place I could find around this area."

The bookstore offers titles in ancient Chinese and English editions. It also sells souvenirs and trinkets for travelers to Beijing.

Anna, a tourist from Russia, told China Daily, "That's something I haven't experienced before in my country."

For shoppers wanting to purchase something slightly older, especially those hunting for authentic Chinese treasures, Panjiayuan Antiques Market in Chaoyang district is a destination that cannot be missed. It is the largest and most popular antiques market in Beijing.

Spanning 48,500 sq m, the market has over 3,000 dealers. Potential buyers are likely to spend an entire day perusing antiques, statues and traditional furniture along narrow walkways.

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