JD Opens Its First Offline Shopping Concept in Galaxy Soho
Jing Dong (JD) is on the attack offline, branching out with a new range of stores and markets that the commerce giant is touting as a "third place" (between home and work) for working professionals, with hopes that physical spaces will captivate consumers as thoroughly as their endless-scroll shopping app. Alongside its 7Fresh Life supermarket, which launched last month and will only be of interest if you live in the boonies of Beijing's northern Huilongguan residential area, JD now has christened its first Seven Fun lifestyle space in the basement of Galaxy Soho.
Without its own specialized door, you'd likely think you've just wandered into another wing of Galaxy Soho
So, what's different about this shopping experience compared to what you might find at any other Beijing mall? Well, nothing much, except that it's everything you'd normally find across three floors all concentrated into a single 1,000sqm store that attempts to cater to absolutely everyone at once, making it reminiscent of the shotgun approach to shopping employed at Hello Mart in Liangmaqiao.
Two self-checkout machines cover purchases in the front supermarket area
In the front "supermarket" portion there's everything from a florist, bakery and café (with RMB 10 coffees), fresh meals like sandwiches and salads, basic cosmetics and toiletries, a small foreign goods section, and a reasonably expansive booze corner with bottles of liquor, wine, and beer for prices that are comparable to what you'll find elsewhere.
The decent range of salads make for a quick lunch
Fresh-baked breads and cakes
A small selection of foreign goods includes tea, coffee, and cereals
There's a decent selection of liquor, wine, and beer on offer
An additional florist never hurt anyone
There's also a small, manned counter lined with high-end accouterments where the cash-inundated can order Louis Vuitton bags on the fly, which is really the store's only perceptible link to JD.
Towards the back is where most of the action is happening, with a whole canteen section lined with outward-facing kiosks selling your usual mall fodder like malatang, noodles, gai fan and the like, as well as a larger Japanese restaurant with seating inside. Two large central islands stand separate, selling wine and beer.advertisement
One nice aspect of this communal-style dining is that there's plenty of varied seating for people to lounge around on, with no demarcations as to where you should sit – want noodles but also a beer? Grab your bowl at Guifengkuang Guizhou spicy noodles and pitch up at the Imbeer-run craft beer bar.
The outward-facing kiosks sell your usual canteen fare
We were happy to see a new Shawarma also having popped up
Diners get ruddy on free wine tastings
Imbeer manage the central beer island, selling (not particularly cheap) craft beer
Traditional North Korean fan dancing – why not?
While there's a lot on offer at Seven Fun, without any discernable discounts, there's no real reason to go out of your way to shop here, or eat here, or really do anything here at all. It no doubt makes a convenient expanding of food options for Galaxy Soho's nearby residents and workers as well as a handy place to pick up individual items, but its limited supplies and fresh produce make it an unlikely option for weekly shoppers.
JD has said these new stores are designed to meet the global trend of consumers shifting from going to the store to buy products to going to the store to experience products and buy services. In actuality, there's nothing much on offer here to get you off the couch, unless, that is, you're after a bite to eat, a bottle of wine, or just some good old fashioned Chinese renao.
Seven Fun
Daily, 10am-10pm. B1, Bldg 3, Galaxy Soho, 1 Nanzhugan Hutong, Dongcheng District
七范儿：东城区南竹杆胡同1号银河SOHO三座地下一层
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Photos: Tom Arnstein
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