The other half: the malls and the streets. Some of these you enter to buy something, and some you enter because the building is worth the afternoon on its own.
Luxury and the fashionable end of town
- Beijing SKP
- On Dawanglu, built around luxury brands, and the highest annual turnover of any department store in China. The basement supermarket is well regarded for price and quality alike. This is the place for someone who wants the top tier of brands and the experience to match.
- Taikoo Li Sanlitun
- The highest concentration of fashionable Beijing in one open-air district, with flagship stores and pop-ups from the big international names. Shop and browse by day; after dark the point becomes the street itself — the lights, the crowd, the photographs.
- China World Mall
- It sits under the most expensive stretch of CBD skyline in Beijing, with the full range of high-end luxury brands. The terrace is where you look at that skyline after dark, and the service is a cut above. It suits a business trip as much as a shopping one.
Art, and places that work with children
- Parkview Green
- A mall with an artistic temperament: large installations stand throughout the building, so walking it feels closer to walking an exhibition. The one to photograph, and the atmosphere is unlike any other mall here.
- Chaoyang Heshenghui
- The mall that collects brands' first stores, and it leads the city on footfall year after year. The 21 Street food lanes on B1 and B2 gather a large share of the city's viral snacks — where younger Beijing comes to eat and wander with friends.
- Livat Beijing
- The giant of the southern city, holding IKEA, Sam's Club and Decathlon as anchor stores. More than seven thousand parking spaces and a properly organised baby-care service — the straightforward choice for a family's weekend, all in one building.
Hutong shopping streets and old names
- Xixinglong Street
- The hutong retail street that has caught on most recently. It keeps the old lanes' bones and has brought in design-led first stores. Good for a Citywalk and for photographs — the setting and the storefronts carry equal weight.
- Nanluogu Xiang
- One of the oldest quarters in the city, with the courtyard pattern of the Yuan dynasty still intact. Today it holds snacks, second-hand shops and handmade crafts together — where old Beijing and the current one meet.
- Silk Street
- It has turned from the old commercial landmark for foreign residents into an incubator for domestic brands, with more than eighty per cent local labels. For an inbound visitor, or anyone after silk, tea or Chinese-character gifts, it is the least effortful stop.
Duty free at the airport
- CNSC duty free, Capital Airport T3
- Inside the airside zone of Terminal 3, ten thousand square metres of it, covering fragrance and cosmetics, accessories, spirits and food. Comprehensive on brands, and discounts are frequent.
- Wangfujing duty free, Capital Airport T2
- In the international airside zone of Terminal 2. It covers the top international fragrance and cosmetics houses, and alongside them Chinese liquor and panda-themed merchandise of the domestic-IP kind.
Getting there and paying
- Getting there
- The big retail districts — SKP, Sanlitun, Wangfujing — are all on the metro. Surface traffic is heavy at peak hours, so take the train rather than a car.
- Paying
- Most malls and streets take Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay cards. Some duty-free shops and high-end malls also take foreign cards.
- Buying safely
- Around the older tourist sites, small unofficial shops need a second look: check what you are being sold and keep the spend sensible. For anything valuable, buy in a proper mall and ask for the invoice.