Guomao's Annual International Brands Sale Opened Today

The annual international brand "bazaar" that is held this time every year at Guomao began late this afternoon and will go from 11 am to 7 pm from tomorrow to Sunday. If you missed out on today's opening, don't worry, get there at 11 tomorrow and there's sure to be some good stuff left. The sale features many of the brands that are based in the Guomao concourse, including Dunhill, Pink, Stella McCartney, and Mark Jacobs. Last year, I was most impressed with some of the discounts at Lane Crawford's stand, but I'm not sure if they're taking part this year.

For most, this sale will be a pass, prices are often only marked down 30-50% on the "good" stuff, bringing it in line with prices at home while the majority of goods look like fakes that you'd never see in the actual stores. Anyways, to each their own, and if you're in the area, it may be worth it to stop in and take a look.

Around Town Monday Morning

Was surprised to see Puma's store at the Place closed down this weekend, but the sign was still up, remodeling or is it the first retail victim of the economic crisis? The Macau restaurant was as packed as ever though....Having not visited Nanluoguxiang and Gulou Dong Dajie in awhile, I was surprised by the large turnover in stores and restaurants in this area, but the people were still lining up for Wenyu Nailao and Plastered and Woo both appeared to be doing great business...During my time in the area, I also sampled a ziran yangrou pie from the pie stand at the northwest corner of Nanluoguxiang, a great mix of Chinese ingredients with the UK/Aussie pie wrapping, especially for RMB5...NLGX recently expanded their shop to include shoe offerings, including the newly hip brand Huili...The venerable Chinese old famous brand, Hundun Hou, is now offering the interesting curry beef hundun...Looking for something different? Just east of Nanluoguxiang's south entrance on Dianmen is a LvRou Huoshao (驴肉火烧）ie donkey meat chopped up with cilantro and green pepper and then added to a long, hot shaobing is unbelievably good and you can make a meal of a couple and a bowl of soup for less than RMB15, perfect for our economical times...tried Guomao Kaochi on Time Out's recommendation and was disappointed, the wings were decent (but not the best I've had) and the service was horrible...

CBD Shopping: Craziness Both High and Low

The annual Guomao Shopping Bazaar is once again upon us and the masses have descended upon Guomao to fight their way through the crowds in search of major bargains. In reality, the Bazaar is a complete waste of time, as by the time you read this, all the good stuff has been picked over and many of the items look like they are outlet or made for China type things you'd never see in the brand's regular store. For guys there is very little to choose from, though Pink has some decent shirts for RMB850 (though many are from LAST winter's collection). Also, some decent Paul Smith (starting around RMB4100) and Neil Barrett suits (RMB5200) at the Lane Crawford stall, but that's about it.

In the middle of high and low is the new tshirt and bag store SQY-T, with some incredibly interesting designs and stores in Beijing and Shanghai, well worth checking out

At the other end of the fashion scale, an interesting "night market" environment has suddenly been created at the southwest corner of Guomao Bridge, running from the corner to the street dividing Yintai and Jianwai Soho. Everything from traditional winter food options like sweet potato, corn, and pineapple to gloves, sweaters, bags, dvds, jewelry, and small household goods are sold on the sidewalk and from the trunks of cars in this small stretch. It will be interesting to see how long this "market" is allowed to continue.

Around Beijing: Mall Openings

Last week saw two major happenings, first the disappointing end (for a month) of Gongti restaurants and bars happened earlier than expected as Mix, Vics, Kro's Nest and the rest shut their doors on Wednesday night. Then, just down the street, the Villages at Sanlitun saw a number of openings over the weekend, including the much anticipated opening of China's first Apple Store (see yesterday's post). Among the other openings is a Nike store to offset the huge Adidas store as well as sportswear brand Mizuno's largest China shop. For non-athletic footwear, Steve Madden and Birkenstock have opened up outlets. Beyond that, there's a Vero Moda/Jack Jones, but as of right now, that's about it, though Uniqlo looks to be ready soon.

A similar scene down the road as there haven't been many new openings in the new Nali Studios. American Apparel looks like it will be ready pre-Olympics, but that's the only store that looks like its near ready. A shoe store has opened and the Magic Pantry is full of great tools for chefs. The Saddle is hopping on a regular basis, but every time I pass by the area, Ciro's Pomodore still looks completely empty on a nightly basis and I've yet to talk to anyone whose eaten there, how long can this place hold on?

While we're at it, the new Lotte Mall at Wangfujing looks like some of its tenants may be ready to move in any day now.

Mac with Chinese Characters

There is now a Mac Store in China! The unveiling of the first Apple Store in China took place Saturday at the new Villages mall at Sanlitun. Over the weekend there were huge crowds packed in, especially around MacBook Airs, checking out all the products. The only place where there weren't lines was at the cash registers. Of course there was one very popular Apple product that was nowhere to be found, the iPhone. Domestic import/luxury taxes on Mac goods make them far more expensive than overseas, but this store is more a showpiece for Mac rather than a place expected to be an instant retail success. Photos follow below:

Around Beijing: Shopping in Early July

The Adidas superstore at the Villages of Sanlitun has finally opened and it has everything any Adidas fan can ask for. The store contains all of Adidas' lines, Y-3, Stella McCartney, Porsche Design, and Adidas Originals, as well as all the regular adidas merchandise. It also contains a large amount of Beijing Olympics merchandise featuring the 3 stripes. This location is bound to become a destination during the Games as its just down the road from Gongti and across from where the (infamous) beer mug used to be, the mugs gone, but Sanlitun's bars are still going strong and are sure to be visited by many Olympics fans. The store also features a number of interactive challenges and games, a DIY area (akin to Nike ID), and a soccer jersey customization area. With less than a month to go and no major announcement yet, is it possible Nike has something up their sleeves to match this store before the start of the Olympics? A big shop at Qianmen maybe (how weird would that be)? Already beat out as official Olympics sponsor, Nike isn't going to allow itself to be topped again, is it? Also, inside the store is the first branch of the popular Shanghai chain, Elements Fresh, unfortunately it only seems to offer its drink options and no food.

Speaking of Nike, it does have a strong presence at Wangfujing and the big store in XinDongAn has undergone some changes recently. No longer do you see Liu Xiang or Yi Jianlian, they've been replaced by a larger than life dunking Kobe Bryant bedecked in his Team USA uniform. Also, inside the store, there are Kobes and LeBrons where there used to be Ah Lians and Yao Mings. Much of the first floor space and all the images have been taken up by the US basketball squad. Its a bit unique and will probably be interesting only to me (or possibly one other person), but the USA replica jerseys have the US flag patch on the upper left chest, just like the one the players will wear, whereas the Chinese replicas for sale don't have a flag patch. Any ideas why this might be?

Also, Li Ning (for the first time in many years NOT the official sponsor of the Chinese Olympic squad) is trying its hand at capitalizing off the Olympics in its own way. First, they offer "retro" track tops and shoes featuring their designs for past Chinese Olympic squads. They are also not completely out of the picture as I believe the Chinese divers will be wearing Li Ning during the Olympics. They've been selling clothes that harken back to past host cities as well and have recently released a line dedicated to some of the different Chinese host cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Qingdao). Unfortunately, the tshirts are infected with a sort of Chinglish problem or strange slogans like "Tianjin! Goal!" or "Qingdao! Heeling!". Granted, heeling is a sailing term, but the idea of that tshirt just seems very strange. What's worse are the tshirts that state on the front "We Host Our Game!" and just to be more confident about that declaration, the back ads "We Do".

Ah, but there's still a month to go, this is only the start...

Surviving June While Looking Your Best

There are very few posts that require our full "editorial board" for approval, but this one was highly debated around here. For the most part, the contributors to this blog are men, straight men, sports-loving, beer-drinking, red meat-eating men. That said, we are men of the world, into art, books, and (shudder!) fashion/shopping. The tag "metrosexual" is so 2 years ago, we would prefer the more respectable, more classic gentleman.

We like to look good, but its been a little harder this month. The panda may be China's national treasure, but "panda eyes" is not a good look for men. Unfortunately, this month it's almost unavoidable for sports loving males around China. Euro 2008 (soccer/football) started last weekend and there are 2 group stage matches beginning each night (early morning), one at 00:00 and the other at 02:45. Things will get worse as the midnight game will go by the wayside during the knockout stages and most matches will be a 2-3 am start. Oh the humanity!

So what can soccer lovers/masochists do? There are a number of daily use under eye products for men (yes, most definitely for MEN) in manly packaging for men that are made specifically for men (are we starting to sound like Daffyd?). These products won't only help you get rid of those dark circles after a night watching European soccer, but can also be helpful in the future after a night out at the bars.

We haven't used all the products, but will give you a brief overview of what's out there:
Sephora Eye Countour Fluid - RMB120
Task Essential Active Eye Serum - RMB360
Nickel Eye Countour - RMB315
GF Eye Cream - RMB168
Clarins Undereye Serum - RMB340
Biotherm Homme Visibly Rejuvinating Eye Care - RMB420
Shisheido Men Eye Soother - RMB335
Kiehls Eye Alert - n/a

The majority of these products can be purchased at Sephora or most high end department store's cosmetics counters. Kiehls doesn't have a mainland outlet of its own, but Beijing's Lane Crawford may carry their products (we debated this internally and couldn't come up with the answer). Amongst the editors, the Sephora Eye Countour Fluid (works great and you can't beat the price), Kiehls Eye Alert, and Clarins Undereye Serum all have their fans, while one of us has quickly developed a preference for Sephora's new exclusive Task Essential products (though he's yet to try the eye serum). Additionally, Clarins offers a Fatigue Fighter (RMB380) that works fairly well to give you a bit of a wake up while helping your skin.

So there you go, men of Beijing and Shanghai, we can't help you in staying awake at the office (lots of coffee and Red Bull (in the old or new old cans) may do the trick), but at least you won't look like you were up until 5 am.

Finally, go Holland (and Russia)!

Profiting from Patriotism

Its an Olympic year and, more than that (and if you've been sleeping under a rock), the Olympics will be in Beijing, so you can imagine all the sports brands are coming out with collections of China related clothing. In this year of tragedy and nationalism, all things that show love for China are sure to sell, though one surprising item (read 'till the end), stands out among all the rest.

Nike, who will sponsor and supply uniforms for a number of Chinese athletes and teams, has done it up big with models of Liu Xiang and Yi Jianlian, among others, in their stores and Yi jerseys (notice no Yao, he's with Reebok) and other China gear all over the place. Adidas, who is the official sponsor of the Chinese squad and will be supplying all their medal stand outfits, hasn't come out with very much yet, but does have its officially licensed Beijing Olympics clothing as well as the Chinese national team soccer jersey in is stores. Li Ning, on the other hand, who for the first time in many years won't be outfitting Chinese athletes on the medal stand, has come out with a collection of their previous tracksuit designs (and shoes to go with them), including those from Athens, Sydney, Atlanta, and Barcelona. Finally, Umbro and Puma, neither having any connection to Chinese squads or athletes, have chosen to attempt to capitalize on the Olympics by releasing Beijing themed tshirts and other clothing.

Most interesting among all this, though, is Kappa. Before March, I Love China tshirts really didn't exist, but after the situation in T!bet, they suddenly found their way in shops across the country and after the earthquake, they became an instant necessity for every patriotic (or wannabe patriotic) Chinese the country over. These shirts could be found everywhere, typically selling for RMB10-20 and are the new nationwide trend.

At many Kappa stores around the city, you can now find their own edition of this tshirt, selling for far more than RMB20. I highly doubt they could have rushed these into stores in the days following the earthquake, and even if they could, I doubt they'd try it, having already run afoul of many young Chinese for their selling of a T!bet tracktop that included the flag of the independence movement. Perhaps the sentiment was originally meant as an apology after the situation in Western China (and criticism of the brand) flared up, but this attempt to make money off the current streak of patriotic sentiment running through the country is disturbing. Let's hope some of the profits from these tshirts will be donated to earthquake victims or some other charity (if anybody actually buys one).

The Westside is the Bestside!

I really want to love the Bizcult blog, they come up with such great titles for their articles, but having read 2 recent posts, I find a lot to disagree with, though, I should let them off as its the articles they're quoting that lead them astray. Their blog entries typically start out with some creative lead-ins to introduce an article and then goes into it further.

One, for example, looks at Beijing’s west side and a mall that’s a favorite here at Modern Lei Feng, Joy City (check out our post about it here). It starts out: “What’s the west side of Beijing known for? Maybe squat toilets, newspapers on bulletin boards or old men playing cards.”

Huh? Wha??? Wait a second, why diss the west side? By the way, what accounts for the west side? Does it extend to the southwest and Fengtai? Does it go northwest to the university area in Haidian? What about the foreign enclave that is Houhai?

It goes on to say: "International retailers could be giving that more 'traditional; side of town a makeover. We’re not talking about Gucci and Prada. It’s more mid-range international retailers that are interested in the west side.”

Umm…What can I say, but WRONG! The “traditional” side of town? According to whom? First, if there is an area of Beijing that has resisted “change”, it would be the southern part of the city, basically anything south of subway line 2. As for international retailers not being interested in the west side, that’s if you don’t go any further west than Xidan. However, if you take the subway one stop further and head to Fuxingmen, you’ll find Armani, Cartier, Burberry, as well as Prada and Gucci, plus Beijing’s only version of the ultra-luxury department store Lane Crawford (all located in Parksons and Seasons Plaza).

The west side is positively overflowing with big money, all the banks are located there and it has now become the financial district, walk around Fuxingmen at lunchtime and try not to bump into an I-Banker, I dare you!

Xidan isn’t a luxury spot, its sort of Beijing’s version of Tokyo’s Shibuya . It’s usually teeming with teens and twenty something’s who are looking for mid-priced goods. Joy City encompasses this outlook, full of your typical foreign high street shops or their Chinese equivalents (ie Zara, Next, French Connection, Izzue, and Esprit), but also the lower end Chinese brands like Baleno, Giordano, Semir, and all the rest. It’s basically a mirror image of The Place, which the writer described as “posh.”

The article states that Xidan “hasn’t always been a hit with foreign brands” just because Uniqlo failed there is a bit of a stretch, what about the Uniqlo location that failed in what the article describes as the “luxe” (a major stretch as its very mixed) that is Oriental Plaza?

In another entry talking about Chinese retail therapy, Shanghai is used as an example. The lead in to this one uses Nanjing East Road as an example, though this isn’t a very useful example because that area is filled with low-end Chinese and Hong Kong brands and very few “high street” brands and no luxury brands (beyond luxury watches).

The article concludes “While it is clear from Nanjing East road that more affluent customers don’t mind paying extra for that hip foreign brand, it’s not enough to sit back and rest on your laurels quite yet.” Again, what? Affluent shoppers are NOT going anywhere near Nanjing East, their down the road on Nanjing West at Plaza 66 and Plaza City or they’re roaming around Xintiandi. Further, Nanjing East Road is NOT a place to find local Shanghainese, it’s a place to find tourists, Chinese and foreign, but only tourists.

We feel a bit sorry for the blog as they dropped these entries right into our wheelhouse, so we felt the need to correct them. We have 2 lifelong west side residents here and so they were especially sensitive about the insult.

We do really want to thank Bizcult though as the article which led to their westside post has us starting to dream as it said that major foreign stores like the UK's Topshop and the US' Urban Outfitters and Banana Republic are coming to China this year. If this is true, it could be an expensive fall for us...

Teahouses, Temples, and WaiTan

The US edition of GQ has a photo spread in this month's magazine called "An American in Shanghai" featuring one of summer's best and most versatile materials, seersucker. The photo locations are M on the Bund, Fangban Rd (near Yu Garden), Fuxing Park, Dongtai Rd, Cheng Huang Temple (Yu Garden), Huxinting Teahouse (Yu Garden), and Nanjing East Rd.

The depressing thing for those in China who see the spread is that, despite the summer sun starting to bare down on Shanghai (and Beijing), options for summer suits are minimal. Summer suits made of cotton and seersucker are perfect for every occasion, dressed up enough for the office (though not for a major client/customer meeting), they also are very easily dressed down for a stylish, but casual touch at weekend parties or a night on the town. However, they are almost impossible to find in stores or at tailors in China. You'll either have to make a trip overseas or look at high end retail shops, as the fashion labels all feature these great summer suits. Even staid old school Brooks Brothers has released a cotton version of their great Fitzgerald suit (aka the JFK suit) for the summer.

Linen is the other great summer fabric, though it is more for casual situations (or possibly a more casual, non client/customer meeting day at the office). Senli & Ma, my favorite Beijing tailor, now has linen in, its extremely high quality, but with a hefty price tag to match.

Oh yes, and about the copy, I hate the DC is to New York as Beijing is to Shanghai, NO! Granted, Beijing is the capital and home of the government, like DC, and New York is the home of US financial matters while Shanghai has a stock exchange, but Beijing, especially with the creation of its Financial District, is an equal player in the finance world. To argue which city is cooler, has better restaurants or better nightlife is not an easy argument and it really depends on your own personal preferences. Finally, a correction, Shanghai is not Beijing's sister, its more like Beijing's granddaughter, thank you very much.

And before we go, on the Laowai front, the article did justice to our post last week, mentioning stuff Laowai like about Shanghai (#2):
"neighborhoods built in the 1920s and ‘30s.” (read: love the history and "authenticity")
"staggering mix of old and new" (read: Acceptably Chinese)
French Concession “1920s art deco mansions, tucked-away cafes”

Sunday Photo Thread: Memorial Day Weekend Edition

JingAn Xiaoting was regularly packed with weekend shoppers purchasing everything you can think of and, unlike the old Xiangyan Market, the majority of shoppers were locals. The market will close down at the end of this week, to be replaced with a new transportation hub. It was especially crowded this past weekend with shoppers trying to get last minute deals before it all goes by the wayside. Some of the shops will relocate to the Email Fashion Plaza across from Jingan Temple, while others were closing down for good or dispersing around the city. The famous mala tang stall that regularly served a long line of hungry customers is moving just down the street to what will sure to be cleaner digs on Wanhangdu Rd, but the lines are sure to remain. Our Shanghai correspondent stopped by to snap a few pictures while munching on the excellent mala tang, the results follow:

Thom vs. Tom

Its interesting to see, yet again, the battle of the T(h)om's playing itself out, this time on the pages of the New York Times. These articles have been done to death over the past few years, ever since Tom Ford decided to "come back like Jordan" and start his own menswear line. Tom Ford, the man who reinvented Gucci and made it cool again, started his own label which featured traditional Saville Row tailoring elements alongside his concept of American masculinity. On the other hand, Thom Browne's style was classic Americana, the '60s with modern (read: strange) touches.

Fashion is a fickle thing, who do we credit for the current trend of narrowness (lapels, pants, ties) in men's wear? Should it be Europeans like Heidi Slimane for his work at Dior Homme and/or Jil Sander or are we living in Thom's world now? In any case, the trend of slim and narrow isn't only seen in high end US$4,000 suits, but in what you get at the local mall in stores like Banana Republic, J. Crew, and H&M.

Tom Ford hasn't impacted fashion so much anymore as he's going back to the classics, though during his Gucci days, he turned around that brand as well as men's fashion as a whole. Thom Browne's look has its impact, but only slightly, the overall Browne look, when adopted by the normal/average guy, looks ridiculous.

The Dior Homme aesthetic has taken over Beijing, as seen regularly on stylites, but will Thom's image of American men have its day in the Chinese capital?

Luxury Overkill Continues in Beijing

Saying that high end luxury is a growing trend in Beijing is an understatement, it’s getting to the point of overkill as the market seems incredibly saturated. I've talked about the luxury trend in hotels, restaurants, and bars, but its just as bad (or worse) when it comes to malls.

In the relatively short distance from HuaMao, down Jianguomen and onto Changan Jie ending a bit north of Fuxingmen, one would come across 5 Cartier stores (Huamao, Guomao, Yantai (coming soon), Peninsula, Xin Dong An (coming soon), Parksons (why not at Seasons Place?)), 4 Hermes stores, and 3 Louis Vuitton boutiques. Compare that to Chicago, America’s 3rd largest city with a much higher per capita income and larger number of millionaires than in Beijing which only offers 1 of each of the above stores.

This begs the ultimate question: who is shopping (and buying) at these stores and how can they survive? At Wangfujing, within a 10 minute walk you come across 3 Nike stores and 4 Adidas shops, not to mention the sporting goods mall which has one of each. The difference is that these stores sell goods that are obtainable by the average Chinese person. Most Beijingers can afford at the very least a hat or tshirt at Nike, which can be purchased for around RMB200 or less. Shop sizes differ from the mammoth Nike store in Dongfang Plaza to the small shop on the walking street to the impressive (but limited floorspace) XinDongAn store. The stores, with their huge swooshes, serve as permanent, additional advertising for the Nike brand.

That isn’t the case with Cartier. Even many white collar Chinese, the kind that might be able to afford Cartier, aren’t that familiar with the brand and its history. Nor can they really afford the wares offered inside which start at around RMB20,000 and go up, up, up. Isn’t part of being an exclusive, high end brand making the customer come to you? Unlike Nike, which can serve as an impulse purchase for someone who may have just intended on browsing, a person goes to Cartier knowing they want to buy something and having done their homework, nobody (well, very, very few people) are just going to stumble upon a Cartier and decide to drop RMB50,000 on a pen.

The rush to expand now has to do in large part with the Olympics (hell, everything is connected to the Olympics somehow), as (very rich) foreigners descend on Beijing for a month of great sporting accomplishments and conspicuous consumption. However, once the last medal is handed out and August’s revelry turns to September’s hangover, it will be interesting to see how, longterm, these ultraluxury brands can maintain so many stores in such a small space.

Where Beijing Falls Short...

In the past one of my aunts was always complaining about how early things closed in Beijing and I always said that it wasn't quite as bad as she made it out to be, closing hours for a lot of the bigger malls was typically around 10 pm, which seemed reasonable. However, after spending a night at Wangfujing not too long ago and being in Tokyo now, I've come to agree with her, Beijing closes down way too early.

For a major, happening international city, its sort of disconcerting when so many places seem to turn off the lights at such an early hour. Now, I'm not advocating the entire city stay open all night, but when I was walking down Wangfujing on a Saturday night at 9:20 pm, it was shocking to see most of the stores were already starting to close down for the night. What??? This is the most famous shopping street in Beijing, and probably in all of China, and everything closes at 9:30 on a Saturday night and 9 pm during the week? Its not like the masses of people who shop in that area go away either, the street was still packed with people who had very few choices for a late night snack or to satisfy their desire for retail therapy. I'm pretty sure this will change during the Olympics, but it should stay open another hour later in general, considering the crowds that it draws.

I think 10 pm during the week and 10:30 on the weekend would be a lot better and would actually help the shops make some more money. Let's keep Beijing open!

And one more thing, it is really, really time to close Nanluoguxiang off to cars. Such a nice peaceful area is hard to come by in Beijing, so its annoying to regularly have to dodge cars as they go rumbling down the road. It's a pain for pedestrians and disturbs the tranquil environment.

Beijing, my beautiful Beijing, your problems certainly aren't limited to these, but these are two small things that won't be difficult to change and that will win you some points in the eyes of locals and visitors alike.

A Quick Look at Shopping Spots Around the Capital

With one less soldier on the ground (yes, a loyal contributor is now off to bigger and better things in Tokyo), we're a man down around here, but no problem, the slack can be picked up.

Speaking of picking things up, my mood was quickly picked up when I discovered a Beijing outpost of popular Shanghai wine bar/boutique Enoteca will be open soon at The Place. I imagine its going to be a very happening after work spot in the CBD. In other The Place related news, a Giordano Concepts will be opening by the end of the month there and, while there, its worth it to check out the Chinese brand Croquis, a brand based in Hangzhou that is a men's version of casual cool JNBY.

In other shopping news, Joy City's closer to capacity now that Zara has finally opened its doors. Tons of construction is going on at Xidan and the wrecking ball finally took out the many small stores facing joy city.

A walk through China Central Plaza mall saw a lot of "opening soon" signs and few customers (including a Muji). A large Brooks Brothers store is open now, but its still not known if BB's traditional "pinstripe lawyerly affectations" and "brash tweedy impertinence" will fit into this relatively empty area. Who is going to support this mall (more on this soon)? And how long do the apartment blocks squeezed between it and Xiandai Soho have before the wrecking ball comes calling?

Xinjiekou is in disarray as another large mall looks to be moving in next to the Xinhua Mall and many of the stores on the west side of the street are shut down, which could lead to major changes to the Chinese styles that are more commonly found in that area.

(Almost) Definitive Beijing Shopping Guide

So with the big show about to begin, let's go over one of Beijing's greatest pleasures, the shopping...

Wangfujing - This has long been a shopping street in Beijing, dating back before there were such things as malls, but now, its bookended with the huge Dongfang Plaza at one end and the almost as large XinDongAn (or APM) at the other. In between are a bunch of Chinese brands, official Olympics souvenir stores (including the Flagship store), and foreign sportswear brands. It's a must see for any tourists and is sure to be hopping nightly during the Olympics.

Xidan - It often gets compared to Tokyo's Shibuya, but its nowhere near as stylish, however it is where Chinese teens while away the weekend hours and plop down their (parent's) cash. My love of Joy City has been well documented, but there is also Time Square and the oldy but goody Zhong You. Also Xidan Shopping Center and 77th Street are good for a younger, more Korean/Chinese version of Silk Alley. There will also be large screens set up as the plaza in front of Zhong You has been designated an Olympic Culture Square, a site for taking in all the festivities.

Sanlitun - Surprising that this would be on a list of shopping destinations, but in a small area there is Yashow (more on this later), the newly opened up Villages of Sanlitun with a lot of mid-priced foreign brands and the huge Adidas store, and then the interesting 3.3 and Nali. The last two offer high quality copies of very hip, trendy clothing, but the prices aren't exactly cheap (by Chinese standards at least.

Silk Alley/Hongqiao/Yashow - These are all pretty much 1 place in that they all sell the exact same stuff for the same price, so a trip to one of them is enough. They all sell the same fake everything (shoes, clothing, bags, electronics, you name it), though while their electronics are all brand new (find fakes of the latest iPods and iPhones), the majority of the clothing and bag designs at these places hasn't changed in 10 years. Prices are cheap and of course, everything is to be bargained for, but buyer beware, almost everything you buy at these markets IS NOT REAL and depending on your luck can last anywhere from a week to 5 years.

High End Shopping - Why are you shopping for high end things anyways? If you are from the US or Europe, you'll be met by shockingly high prices for designer labels as there is up to a 30% import tax on a lot of luxury items. However, if you find that special someone during the Games and want to impress, the best choices are the new Central China Mall (Hua Mao) at Da Wang Lu; Guo Mao; and Season's Place (with mainland China's only Lane Crawford), just north of the Fuxingmen subway station (while you're over there, check out Parksons as well).

Nanluoguxiang - This popular alley has gotten a lot of (deserved) press over the past few years with a number of great bars, restaurants, and interesting boutiques. Shops that are particularly worth checking out are Plastered and NLGX for interesting, very Beijing tshirts and Woo, for beautiful cashmere scarves and shawls. Also, while I'm not a fan of the Grifted designs, many are.

The Place/Solano - The Place is a very nice, new mall located a little north of Silk Alley and it carries a lot of mid range Western brands, including Beijing's largest Zara, and an NBA Store. It is serving as an Olympics Culture Square, so expect crowds, and hopefully its mega overhead screen will be showing Olympic events. Solano is an even newer mall north of Chaoyang Park's West Gate (not far from the beach volleyball entrance and that area's Culture Square) and carries a lot of the same brands as The Place, but in a setting seemingly straight out of California.

One store that may be of particular interest to foreign shoppers is "Hotwind". They have outlets around the city and sell a wide variety of men's and women's clothes that carry the labels of popular western brands that are all made in China but end up there instead of outlets. Expect to brands like Hilfiger, Paul Smith, Abercrombie, Hollister, Zara, and Polo to name a few, all in much better shape and quality than what you'd find at Silk Alley. There's no bargaining here, but the prices are pretty good. Whether or not the items are real or not, I leave that for you to decide.

Some other great options are Panjiayuan for antiques and other knicknacks as well as Liulichang for a similar selection of merchandise as well as some local art. Many foreigners love to have tailored clothes made while in Beijing, but don't go bragging too much about that RMB800 suit that you got made overnight for you, as the old saying "you get what you pay for" holds true. I would avoid these cheaper tailors, but if you insist, make sure you are clear about your design and try to bring pictures, as this will help guarantee you get exactly what you want.

Most of all, I want to wish all you shoppers a great time and lots of great buys during your time in Beijing.

Northern Barbarians Have Style Too!

The first real “argument” of one relationship I had was about which city was more stylish: Beijing or Shanghai. My female friend insisted that she and many of her foreign friends felt that Shanghai way outclassed Beijing. Me, on the other hand, with my pride as a Beijinger, insisted that this simply wasn’t the case.

Shanghai, the “Whore of the Orient”, that plucky rival down south, has long been considered China’s capital of style, yet its also a city where middle aged people consider pyjamas as the en vogue relaxed walking around clothes, something I’ve rarely, if ever, seen in Beijing. Shanghai’s reputation as the style city is more talk than reality. It dates back to its more glamorous days in the 20s and 30s where its location and cosmopolitan nature drew people from all over the world. Nowadays, while it boasts gleaming skyscrapers, high end restaurants and bars, and a lot of interesting early modern architecture, the city’s style and the style of its people are wrongly fused into one.

Having spent a lot of time in Shanghai and Beijing, I really don’t think that Shanghainese are any more stylish than Beijingers, for the most part. Get on a subway in Beijing or Shanghai and look at the 10 people standing closest to you (who aren’t migrant workers), out of the 10, you’ll probably find 4 or so dressed “Chinese style” or badly, 3 who are dressed in casual attire that wouldn’t be out of place in most other parts of the world, and 3 who could be deemed somewhat stylish (out of the 3, usually 1 will stick out). If you’re roaming around Guomao or Lane Crawford in Beijing or the Kerry Center/Shanghai Center/Plaza 66 area in Shanghai the style quotient is sure to go up. Too much of the “Shanghai is stylish” talk isn’t really backed up by reality. Sure, you walk into Jean Georges or Jade and you’ll see a pretty stylish set of people, but it’s the same thing if you go to Courtyard or Lan. Sure, Shanghai has Changle Rd, but I’ve yet to find anything that can match 3.3. Upping the ante, mall for mall, would you actually choose Shanghai over Beijing? Wangfujing vs. Nanjing Rd? Seasons Place vs. Plaza 66? Guomao vs. Jiuguang? Xidan vs. Huaihai Rd? Times Square vs. er...Times Square? Legation Quarter (soon to be opened) vs. Xintiandi? 3.3 vs. ...? Come on, it’s pretty much a wash, the nod goes to Beijing.

One of my biggest arguments against the “Shanghai is stylish” discussion is that it’s a monotonous style that can be referred to as “chic casual” for the most part (and I'm sorry Shopgirl, China's not an inspiration, but simply biting styles from major Euro designers before H&M does) . Beijing has that look too, but there is also a far more diverse range of styles, somewhat driven by the fact Beijing is far more artistically inclined and with a much better music scene than Shanghai. You have indie chicks (which has me thrilled, because in Shenzhen I cam *this* close to writing a post about the disappearance of the indie chick), hip hoppers, nerd chic, punk rockers, skateboarders, and crazy artists. It’s not simply one look, but a little of everything.

For examples of the wide range of great looks you can see on the streets of Beijing (or if you're just into fashion), you must check out Stylites in Beijing, he's fast becoming the arbiter of style in our fair city. And although I have a feeling he’d disagree with my assessment, overall both Shanghai and Beijing have a long way to come before they can match really fashionable cities like New York, London, and Paris.

Update on Joy City and 2 Brit Stars Coming to Beijing (and one's named McCartney)

Last night having some time to look around, I headed to Joy City, the new mall at Xidan (discussed here), to see how things were going. Well, right now almost all the stores are open and the mall was pretty crowded. Occupancy is very high and its a great mix of shops and restaurants, many who are entering the capital's market for the first time. It's Xidan location is perfect and has a great mix of mid-priced western brands as well as the cheaper Chinese brands. As of right now, almost everything is open except the I.T. brands, Uniqlo (coming March 29th), Zara, and Nike.

Some highlights:
-Great to see Muji finally in Beijing and the store was pretty crowded
-I really like Wagas and hope that it will spread around the capital like it did in Shanghai. This location has two seating areas, one an "intimate" setting that is dark and woody overlooking the madness of Xidan, the other is bright and airy overlooking the mall's atrium.
-This is the sports fan in me, but the Adidas store has a small collection of Beijing Guoan clothes,
something I've never seen before, Guoan's move to Adidas seems to be a great choice
-Along with the discussed Japaneseness of the mall is a store that I didn't notice, Asics' Ontisuka Tigers, which carries their great shoes, but also a decent selection of casual clothing

As for my other teaser in the title, a McCartney is coming to Beijing, but sorry to disappoint the Beatles fans, its not Paul, but his daughter, Stella. Guomao is currently advertising that a Stella McCartney boutique is "coming soon" and who will her neighbor be? King of women's shoes and made famous by Sex and the City, Jimmy Choo. It's going to be the first boutique in the capital (there is one in Plaza 66 in Shanghai), though I believe his shoes are also carried at Lane Crawford. No help for us guys, but now Beijing women will be even more stylish.

The New Kid on the Block at Xidan

If you're like me and take Beijing's subway on a regular basis, you've been bombarded by large, colorful, graffiti-like ads for a new mall called Joy City at Xidan, yesterday I decided it was time to investigate. Let me just say, while the mall won't be fully operational until early March, its already time to get excited. The majority of stores only offer coming soon signs that fill one with promise, though a number of stores are already open for business.

There is a certain element of Japanese influence already in place at Xidan, but Joy City will offer up a different, subdued version of Japanese style with the arrival of Muji to the capital and also Uniqlo rolling the dice again on Beijing. Beyond those two great (and very different) bastions of staples from Japan, there will be another Ajisen Ichiban noodle shop among other Japanese shops.

This mall isn't all things Japan, though. I'm equally excited about another Zara opening up (and in general, a lot of similar offerings as at The Place on the eastern side of town, including French Connection, i.t., and Sephora). There will be a large Apple (authorized seller) store and G2000 has opened up a store to match the size of the one in Xin Dong An. Beyond Muji, which I've already shown my love for, I'm really happy about the already opened G2 Black Label store in the mall, Beijing's first. In general, G2000 makes some decent work wear at reasonable prices (think Banana Republic), but the G2 Black Label items are a little higher end, more stylish, modern fit (think slightly slimmer suits and narrower ties) that are still very affordable. Another store that makes its first appearance in the capital (and is already open) is Giordano Concepts, featuring more fashionable (and slightly more expensive) offerings for work and weekends (almost always limited to black, white, and grey).

It will be interesting to see how Uniqlo does this time around, its Shanghai store at Raffles doesn't have a lot of floor space, a problem that I think also plagued its original Beijing locations. Uniqlo is sort of hard to pin down, it sort of a bit of Gap and a bit of Old Navy, a place for decent, affordable clothes which also has low-end basics. Given a large enough floor space (like they have in HK and like they seem to be getting in Beijing), they can show the full range of their products and should be able to succeed this time around.

Xidan is the place for edgy, young fashion, it will be interesting how this mall, full of preppy choices and stores for 20-something white collar workers to outfit themselves for work, play, and partying will do.

Xidan, always known as one of THE spots to shop, is now a destination for all walks of life. You have the teenagers into Japanese/Korean styles congregating in/around Xidan Shopping Center, the traditional Chinese department stores (Grand Pacific and Zhong You), the new addition (Joy City), and chuppie heaven (Time Square).

More Money = Less Fakes?

I usually enjoy Tim Johnson and his writing, but his recent entry on counterfeits had me scratching my head, namely the quote below:

Chinese with new money want the real thing. They don’t want bogus. This is a really positive sign. In five years, the discussions about piracy in China will be very different. As standards of living improve, and as Chinese companies develop their own labels and brands, the Chinese will become better at self-policing.

Okay, first we need to define what kind of piracy we're talking about here, because I'm convinced nothing other than major lawsuits and/or the downfall of the CCP will stop pirated DVDs/CDs/computer software. The nouveau riche, along with everyone else, will continue happily buying pirated versions and the discussion in 5 years or 50 years on that subject will not change. Secondly, this really only comes from an observation, in passing, after time spent in the Tiffany & Co. store at Oriental Plaza.

That said, I don't think its a new thing that the nouveau riche are dropping mad loot at the big-name label shops in Guomao, Oriental Plaza, and now in the Financial District. At Wangfujing you have a choice, if you have the cash you buy real Tiffany at Oriental Plaza, if you don't, like most teens and 20 somethings, you choose to hit the subway tunnel sellers of fake Tiffany. Johnson's argument seems pretty tired, its nothing new, we were hearing it 5 years ago and though standards have continued, the talk is all still the same.

When will the fakes stop? They won't, but it really doesn't matter. In the past, white collar females (as the fakes are typically focused on jewelry and handbags) would be annoyed after having spent big bucks on an LV or Burberry bag on Saturday, only to be greeted on Monday by an entire office of secretaries and staff using what appeared to be the exact same bag.

However, in recent years, while counterfeiters have come out with more new brands (the Coach craze started a few years back) as well as some that target men (Tumi and Swiss Army/Victorinix have started appearing recently), they haven't been very adroit at brand extension. Therefore, the majority of Burberry/Gucci/LV bags (which make up the majority of fakes you see at the markets) are all the same designs that they were selling 10 years ago, despite these brands releasing numerous new styles and designs. There's also the fact that Tiffany isn't really a good example, because while they are still expensive, they are far from an ultra-luxury brand, with offerings that are borderline "affordable." This has been particularly hurtful to the brand's image in the US, where it no longer defines luxury like it once did.

Yes, those who can conspicuously consume are choosing the real deal over fakes in greater number and yes, Asians, including Chinese to some extent, are driving the luxury market. However, my own anecdotal experience working and meeting lawyers at top law firms seems to show that these decidedly middle class 20 and 30 somethings aren't the ones purchasing designer bags. If they aren't really doing that, we're far from a situation like in Japan where even the lowliest of office workers will save up to make one (or more) large luxury purchase a year.

Johnson's line that the Tiffany customers he encountered "look like they are internet entrepreneurs in their 20s or the very young girlfriends of factory owners" struck me as it reminded me of something Nehls Frye said in an interview, namely that "Northeastern factory owners and Shanxi coal barons will presumably still chase brands that scream luxury and wealth." Many who buy luxury goods want the brand name to jump out at anyone who sees the item, while a majority of white collar shoppers are stepping up from "domestic brands" like Baleno and G2000, but only moving so far as Zara and Sisley, they've yet to make the leap to designer labels.

When will they start making that jump, perhaps in the next 5 years, but its still just guess work. The focus is still less on small-item consumption and more focused on apartments and cars. Perhaps as my generation of Chinese young people continue their climb up the economic ladder and start obtaining those things, luxury will be what comes next, though spending on kids often seems to get in the way of that.

In any case, I don't see 5 years as being enough to change the discussion of piracy. I've heard that song before and while we're getting closer to the time when one can truthfully say that in 5 years the debate will be different, we still ain't there yet.