Great Brickening Continues: Chaoyang Park West on Chopping Block

Though Beijingers spent much of 2017 lamenting the “year of the great brickening” those unrelenting waves of redevelopment aren’t letting up now that 2018 is here. In fact one of the city's most well-established strip of restaurants, situated at the west gate of Chaoyang Park, is next on the chopping block.

Jenny Lou's is among the westernized businesses on the popular strip

Sources tell the Beijinger that some long-running businesses like Muse have already left the strip, while the rest will be gone between now and Chinese New Year at the very latest.

Wilson Zhang, a manager at the Annie’s branch on that strip, confirmed these new developments on the evening of January 6. He said the authorities recently gave him and his colleagues an official notice that they will need to leave around Chinese New Year, though they have not been given a date yet.

Benjamin Devos, CEO of the Comptoirs de France bakery and cafe chain, says his branch on the Chaoyang West strip will close Jan 10.

Though he has 12 other Comptoirs branches across Beijing, Devos says it’s always a problem when this kind of sweeping and sudden closure takes place, before lamenting just how tough the past year has been on business owners in Beijing.

“I can understand the closing of illegal business in other parts of town. But many of the businesses on this strip are licensed," Devos said.

The closure isn’t only disrupting Devos’ business — he also lives near Chaoyang Park’s west gate. “It’s quite troublesome for people who live nearby to have all those businesses leave, to have their community affected this way,” he says.

Other businesses on the strip include a branch of the popular Jenny Lou’s western style grocery store, and Italian restaurant La Rucola (which went by the name Alio Olio at that location for years prior to changing its name in 2017).

Photos: beijingrelocation.com

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