Little More Than Eye Candy for Wealthy Kid(uldt)s: Iconic Brand Line Friends Opens Store in Guomao
Deep down, everyone has a little Peter Pan living in their heart which is why we assume that Line Friends, a Korean-owned spinoff of the banned-in-China Japanese messaging app Line, has done so well. Over here, the brand is known best for its cutesy animal mascots that would normally grace the app in sticker form. With the opening of its new flagship store in Guomao's Yintai Centre, it should also now be known for some of the most overpriced tat to ever come to Beijing (more on that later).
The first hint that mad amounts of money are about to be splashed around is provided by the store's surrounding outlets: Bottega Veneta, Tom Ford, and Ralph Lauren. The Line Café & Store, the brand's sister café and indoor playground (called in Kids with Line Friends) sits separate on the third floor. Despite the prices, a mere 12 seats dotted around the mall's corridor make up the "seating area."
Starting at the café, there's quite a short menu on offer, providing coffee (RMB 27-38), five teas (RMB 32), a range of cakes (RMB 42-48), paninis (RMB 98), and sausages and toast (RMB 98).
Admittedly, the desserts look cute in the fridge and are all designed based off of characters from Line. We opted for both a Brown Bear and Cony Rabbit Mousse (RMB 48). The Cony version is made of cream cheese, sponge, and a slightly tart strawberry jelly, while Brown Bear Mousse is largely chocolate cream with an orange jelly middle which was far too sweet for our taste. We did feel a little sadistic slowly cutting into the characters bite by bite, from cheek to ear, mouth to eye.
They were out of cupcakes during our visit, since all of their food is made and delivered from Shanghai, which in itself is little concerning in terms of freshness. “Due to slow delivery times during the holiday some of the dishes are out of stock,” explained the staff. Instead we tried the Brown Bear hot cakes (re: egg puffs in a bear shape), which are the only dish made on site. Photogenically, they definitely didn’t measure up to the mousses and were about on par with egg puffs that you can get from anywhere else on the street for one third of the price and from a choice of many more flavors.
We declined to order the panini, not because of the outrageous RMB 98 price tag, but instead because the staff were kind enough to confide in us that, “it’s not tasty, or worth the money,” which bodes well for the store.
You would be wrong to think this café exists to ease the nerves of the anxious parents, as it will undoubtedly be adults who flock here to be a kidult with these cute little characters and document their exploits (in selfie form) via Weibo and Dianping, and leave with the pseudo high that only spending extortionate amounts money can sometimes give you.
We also checked the Line Friends Store at the door of the playground, which also falls on the pricey side; for example, a simple Macbook case for RMB 368 or a palm-sized “air purifier” for RMB 998! Excuse me?
To gain access to the In Kids with Line Friends Playground, a) you have to be a kid or come with a kid, and b) it’s RMB 588 for two hours. Knowing that we're too broke to pay the entrance fee and severely lacking in kids to borrow, we gave up and went home.
All in all, this eye candy is made for Beijing's wealthiest and spoiled kids, not us. If you're an extreme fan of Line Friends and you've got more money than sense then this is just the place for you. If you're an adult with a life then you'll have already forgotten that you ever knew about this place.
Line Friends Café & Store
Daily 10.30am-9pm. 3-328, Beijing Yintai Centre, 2 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District (8517 1506)
朝阳区银泰中心in01购物中心三层328号
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: Tracy Wang
