CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- On the evening of March 9, a trendy coffee shop in Jinzishan Cultural and Creative Park in Yubei District was bustling, with three bands giving performances in turn on the stage and customers cheering and clapping with high enthusiasm.

This coffee shop, SHI XIAN CLUB, is opened in a disused warehouse.

We visited the shop to see how this unsuccessful shop became a fashionable hangout for young people.

Dilemma

The shop sold coffee only and drew few customers at the beginning

SHI XIAN CLUB is located in Jinzishan Cultural and Creative Park, 50 meters away from the entrance of the park. After walking through the door and down some stone steps, you will enter the shop and see the simple and elegant walls and pillars made of stone.

The two-story coffee shop covers an area of nearly 300 square meters, with a net height of nearly 5 meters indoors. There is a bar, a café, a billiard room, and a Livehouse on the ground floor. The corner to the left of the entrance, as well as the second floor which occupies a small portion of the space, are decorated based on the scenes in Harry Potter to immerse visitors in the wizarding world.

‘I opened this shop because I love the stone houses in Jinzishan Cultural and Creative Park. Actually, this shop didn't use to look like what you see today,’ said Xu Wenjie, the owner of SHI XIAN CLUE who is in his early 40s.

In the second half of 2022, when Xu learned that Yubei District managed to build Jinzishan Warehouse into a cultural and creative park, he didn’t hesitate to contact relevant departments for business cooperation. At that time, Xu did not think carefully about what to do and how to do it. He just wanted to take the opportunity to change his profession and make a splash.

Xu’s first idea was to run a coffee shop.

His idea was simple. “Many young people liked to drink coffee, and the coffee shop market had a promising future. Also, I believe that the historic feeling of the buildings made of stones in Jinzishan Cultural and Creative Park would offer a unique and pleasant coffee shop experience and attract many young consumers.”

Starting in January 2023, Xu Wenjie’s coffee shop drew few customers and did not collect enough revenue to cover its expenditure. The reality sapped him of his confidence.

“The business had been bad for nearly eight months. During that time, I suffered from anxiety and insomnia,” said Xu.

Making a glorious change

College bands are invited to liven things up

Xu Wenjie drew a lesson from the bitter experience and found the cause of his failure:

Downtown Chongqing is full of coffee shops in various styles and scales, and the competition is even fierce in Zijinshan Cultural and Creative Park. His simple and unremarkable coffee shop can’t survive in such a highly competitive market.

How to solve the problem?

Xu Wenjie realized that architectural characteristics represented only one of the features of a shop, and the most distinctive features lay in the business model and business form.

Xu Wenjie thought about how to innovate the business model and business form of his shop. Inspired by music, he came up with a plan for innovation in August 2023 – captivating consumers with exciting music performances. Subsequently, he built a music performance stage in the shop, invited outstanding college bands across China through Xiaohongshu to perform in the shop, and promised to provide free performance venues for the bands. Soon, several college bands reached a cooperation with him.

As he had hoped, his plan showed results soon. The First XIAN SHI CLUB College Music Performance on a weekend night in September 2023 was a huge success. Since then, several college bands have taken turns giving performances in the coffee shop, creating a relaxing and cheerful atmosphere for the shop and building up its popularity.

Upgradation

Captivating young consumers with diversified consumer experiences

The process of starting a business is about continuous learning and experience accumulation, said Xu Wenjie. As the popularity of his coffee shop increased, he had a clearer understanding of the consumer psychology of the current young people. Not only do they pursue fashion and trends, but they also enjoy social consumption and experiential and personalized consumption.

In October 2023, SHI XIAN CLUB started to offer a bar, a billiard room, and a ‘Harry Potter’-inspired space and serve a series of innovative food and beverage products related to the film, such as Hogwarts cakes, butterbeer, magic mulled wine, and ‘envelope baba’ (a kind of dessert). At the same time, they offer music performances that increase interaction between customers and bands or special music programs on weekends to set off the atmosphere in the store.

With Xu’s efforts, SHI XIAN CLUB has become a popular coffee shop offering diverse consumption experiences to customers. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)