Starbucks Tour in Beijing

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2004-08-16 20:32 · Starbucks

Yesterday, I spent 5 hours (from 3:15 pm to 8:15 pm) to visit 13 Starbucks alone the Chang An Street. I took about 3 pictures for each store. That is a long march - from the Fuxing street on the west side of the city to the Guomao street on the east.

Yellow line is about the route I visited the stores

Along the way, I visited the Jianguo Gate, the Parkson Store, the Financial Street and the headquarters of major banks in China, and then visited the west commercial area Xidan, and long the street to the National Theater, and Qian Men. I even visited the south most Starbucks at the New World center - that trip was not pleasant at all. Although it is very near the heart of the city (Tian An Men Square), the south part of the city is far behind the north part.

I visited many stores, including the new Oriental Plaza, and then to Dongdan, Friendship Store and finally arrived at the China World Trade Center. It was a long trip and I will definitely find sometime to record the buildings I saw and the people I met during the trip.

19 Comments
Guess you had no time to drink coffee? :-)
— Fons · 2004-08-16 21:52
Five hours to visit 13 Starbucks. What a waste of your time. Or at least should be a waste of your time if you had a life. If you are going to go coffee shop hunting at least choose a chain store that serves good coffee - Peet's.
— Ijimeru · 2004-08-17 11:55
Ijimeru

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040811_about_starbucks_tour_in_beijing.htm

Please read the above article before passing any silly remarks. But then, I guess that passing such remarks is the pinnacle of your life.

michael
— mw · 2004-08-17 18:42
Nice one there, michael! Easy....!
— earthmilk · 2004-08-17 22:28
Your map has some mistakes?

I don't know the southest point for which Starbucks.

I don't know if there's one near South Second Ring.

And you missed 2 Starbucks near Northeast Thrid Ring.

One is under Modern Plaza, it's a great Starbucks, and I always go there.

And you may missed Starbucks near Airport. Tianzhu.

Check it out

http://www.xuntu.com/amuse/show_article.asp?id=A20040402092223&banKuai_ID=2&lanMu_ID=5
— Ginn · 2004-08-18 08:01
Mr. Wong

Nice to see you running a popular web-site for people outside Shanghai can see the average daily life of the working class of China.

One major deficiency is Mr. Wong so reluntant to reply to the enquiries you received some how made people think you are so elegant.

Trust your rectification on your behavior is greatly appreciated both by myself and the others.

Stephen
— Stephen · 2004-08-18 23:24
Stephen, thanks for point it out. It is true that I answer comments less frequently than before. It is due to the time construtaint. I will try to catch up.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2004-08-18 23:47
Fons, I did took a rest at the Starbucks at the Oriental Plaza store (at undergound level) and ordered a cup of coffee. It was the last 4th Starbucks of the day and I was very tired after walking all the way there.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2004-08-18 23:53
Ginn, I guess there is a little big variation between the real locations and those illustrated on the map. However, it is very much close. All the Starbucks I connected with the yellow line have been verified by me personally.

There is a Starbucks near the South 2nd Ring. It is a little bit outside the 2nd Ring (on the map, I marked it inside). It is under the New World Store.

I marked the Air China Plaza store on the map. See the big red dot under the 45 degree thick blue line on the northeast corner? That is it. The thick blue line is the Airport Express and the store you mentioned is at Xiao Yun Road.

I often stay at the Air China Renaissance, which is just above the Starbucks. I am working in the Milleniom Plaza nearby 12 hours a day. Hope to meet you at the Starbucks one day.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2004-08-18 23:57
New World Store is not near or outside 2nd Ring. It's near subway. And we call the road QIAN SAN MEN, because it across Xuanwu Men, Qian men, Xuanwu Men. Your spot is about Yuting Qiao, you can find it in map.

Oops, I'm working near Tsinghua 12 hours a day.
— Ginn · 2004-08-19 14:13
Faint, should be Chongwen Men, Qian Men, Xuanwu Men, it is called QIAN SAN MEN DA JIE.
— Ginn · 2004-08-20 08:58
Interesting challenge.

I would like to get a Starbuck's coffee mug for a friend in the US and would like to know the closest one to the Beijing Airport. Or maybe there is one IN the airport???

Do you know how long it might take to get to one and back to the airport? I will be just passing through in late February.
— Peter Snow Cao · 2005-02-03 09:44
I don't think there is a starbucks in Beijing Airport. I guess the nearest one is at the Xiao Yun Road, Air China Tower, which is the right top red point I draw on the map.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2005-02-03 12:43
It would take about an hour and a half minimum to get to a starbucks and back in Beijing. There isn't one at the airport, only insanely expensive bad coffee. Wang JianShuo, 13 Starbucks in 5 hours, but did you get them all? There are some hidden away. Wangfujing has 3 (though the best one in China, across from the church on Wangfujing is now closed and now there are 2 in Dongfang Plaza), there is one at Friendship Store, but also near Yonganli Subway stop (easy to find, I'm sure you got it), and one tucked into the Scitech office building behind the store (sort of difficult to find). If you could have gotten to all of these, its a true feat!
— chengb02 · 2005-02-04 09:05
Actually, a new Starbucks opened at the Beijing Airport, as early as last December, 2004. I saw it outside international arrivals waiting for my friend to come in, and again when I arrived just this past Sunday. Once again, it is right in front of international arrivals, passing out of customs and baggage claim. Also a new Kentucky Fried Chicken store next to it!
— frankieboy · 2005-02-24 19:19
frankieboy, nice to know that. It may be a good idea to have Starbucks at airport so people have somewhere to stay with expected price range.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2005-02-25 22:10
Ni Hao! I work for Starbucks here in the States and must say that they treat the workers better than Peets does- I investigated both before applying!

One day I hope to tour the Starbucks' - and many other things!- in China. In the meantime, I'll just read your blogs and dream!

xiexie!
— clare · 2005-03-28 04:56
I often go to starbucks coffee in shanghai city.

I have been to 11 starbucks coffee.

last week ,I travel to changzhou,I find one starbucks in the city.

so I visited it.

shirley
— shirley · 2005-08-23 17:12
There was a starbucks at Beijin airport when I visited there in 2006. I was surprised by the poor quality. I see same problem in Shanghai . There is a big difference in different stores even if they share the same name . On the other hand, I have good coffee in some starbucks in Shanghai too.
— mayflower · 2008-05-14 03:54