Ami Paris is getting into the hospitality game and its first stop will be Beijing‘s luxury shopping mall Taikoo Li Sanlitun.
The Café Ami, which will officially open on Sunday, will be a part of Ami Paris’ revamped and relocated store in the South District of the mall. The store, formerly a Hey Tea shop, occupies a busy corner and neighbors Issey Miyake and Le Labo.
Inspired by iconic Haussmann-style Parisian architecture, the café facade features embellished molding and the brand’s signature black-and-white stripes on the awnings. Unmistakably Parisian elements, such as a tall Morris advertising column, rattan chairs and elegant bistro tables, complete the setup.
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The branded roastery is a part of the 1,000-square-foot store that sits on the ground floor of the outdoor retail complex. Apart from caffeinated drinks, the café will also serve seasonal mocktails and desserts.
As for the revamped boutique, the label wanted to bring in as much light and brightness as possible, which was made possible by huge display windows, beige walls, gilded metal display systems and playful striped light oak floor. The store will offer an extensive range of Ami products, including menswear, womenswear and accessories.
The permanent café follows a pop-up version that happened at Taikoo Li Sanlitun last November. Apart from Beijing, the café also landed in Shanghai and Chengdu.
During the Sanlitun pop-up’s one-month run, Ami Paris said that China‘s voracious coffee drinkers consumed more than 20,000 cups of its branded coffee, offering evidence that the demand for novel experiences is steadily increasing. According to Euromonitor, the luxury food service sector already reached $106 million in 2023.
For Ami’s chief executive officer Nicolas Santi-Weil, the new store format will be about bringing a piece of Paris to Beijing while staying in line with the Parisian fashion label’s “warm, optimistic and welcoming” proposition.
“By proposing something fun, something cool, not pretentious, but very refined, we want to build a bridge between France and China,” Santi-Weil said. “This project is also very interesting because we have now moved from the North [district], very luxury-drive, very cold, to the South [District], much warmer, with bigger traffic and a younger clientele,” he added.
To manage potentially long lines that could quickly frustrate impatient shoppers, Ami will allow customers to order on the café’s dedicated WeChat Mini Program. “The young generation don’t want to wait, they want something now; if they have to wait, they will go try something else,” he explained.
On the retail side, growth in the market has been driven by leather goods — in particular the Southern China regions — and womenswear. “Womenswear is growing globally, but in China, it’s growing much faster. Depending on the country, 20 to 40 percent of our clientele is women,” Santi-Weil added.
Ami Paris’ pop-up café franchise will soon travel to Bangkok, Los Angeles and Tokyo, where local customers can hang out and shop the Ami Paris merchandise lineup, which includes branded mugs and tote bags.
As for the permanent version of the café, Santi-Weil said it is important to focus on the Beijing one and nurture its relationship with the Sanlitun landlord. “We want to pay tribute to Beijing Sanlitun because it’s our first [mainland China] partner. It’s also a big investment on our side, so we want to make sure it’s perfect and then develop.”
