Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DEPARTMENT STORES AND MALLS
For general goods, and an idea of current Chinese taste, check out the city's
department
stores
and
malls
. Maybe it's the air of exclusivity and sophistication, or just a reaction to
Beijing's bad weather, but the appetite for vast and sterile shopping warrens seems insatiable.
The new giant malls sell goods (clothes mostly) that cost as much as they do in the West, and
also have supermarkets, coffee shops, restaurants, chemists and food courts, and sometimes
cinemas and bowling alleys.
Western high-street names are here, and the top two levels have some good places to eat.
Daily 9am-10pm.
Friendship Store
北京友谊商店
, bĕijīng yŏuyì shāngdiàn Jianguomenwai Dajie 010
65003311,
bjyysd.com.cn
;
Jianguomen (lines 1 & 2) or Yong'anli subway (line 1);
map
.
Built in the late 1970s as the first modern department store in China, this was for a time the
only place in the city selling imported goods; Chinese shoppers, barred from entering, would
bribe foreigners to buy things for them. The store has since failed to reinvent itself, and is
known for high prices and insouciant staff.
Daily 9.30am-8.30pm.
Chaoyangmen subway (lines 2 & 6);
map
.
Newly opened at the time of writing, this latest
addition to the Galaxy empire is another architectural delight, a range of interconnected,
cocoon-like structures with a distinctive horizontal slatting effect. Its shops are worth a poke
around, though it's mostly office space.
Daily 10am-8pm.
Intime Lotte
乐天银泰百货
, lètiān yíntài băihuò 88 Wangfujing Jie; Wangfujing subway
(line 1) 010 59785114,
intimelotte.com
;
map
.
You can't miss this mall, housed in a dis-
tinctive building fronted by ripple-like waves of glass. Inside it's actually more like a depart-
ment store; head on up to the top level for some great hotpot at
Hai Di Lao
.
Daily 10am-9pm.
Oriental Plaza
东方广场
, dōngfāng guăngchăng 1 Dongchang'an Jie
www.orientalplaza.com
;
Wangfujing subway (line 1);
map
.
Extremely long mall featuring
a number of excellent boutiques (including
Shanghai Tang
), an array of international brand
names, and a good food court on the lower level.
Daily 9.30am-10pm.
ping opportunities in two long wings. Many, however, come for the giant
LED screen
,
which
makes the open-air path running beneath it a great place for a stroll.
Daily 10am-10pm.
