Ami Paris Opens Its First Café in Beijing, China

Ami Paris is expanding into the world of hospitality with its most recent venture. Opening the brand’s café location in Beijing, China, Café Ami has found its home the Chinese capital’s luxury shopping mall Taikoo Li Sanlitun.

Starting this weekend, Café Ami will officially be open to the public and will be a part of the store’s revamped and relocated store location. Taking on signature Parisian Haussmann-style architecture, the café emulates a typical Parisian café facade, even featuring the iconic embellished moldings to complement Ami Paris’ signature black-and-white stripes on the awnings. Rattan chairs are paired with bistro tables to give it the unmistakable Parisian vibe. The café will also sell seasonal mocktails and desserts alongside caffeinated drinks.

Café Ami is part of a 1,000-square-foot store on the ground floor of the mall complex and will also act as an Ami-branded store that features a range of products from the brand in menswear, womenswear and accessories. The permanent spot comes after Ami Paris did a pop-up version of their café just last year in Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun, where it was also in Shanghai and Chengdu. According to Nicolas Sant-Weil, CEO of Ami Paris, “By proposing something fun, something cool, not pretentious, but very refined, we want to build a bridge between France and China. This project is also very interesting because we have now moved from the North [district], very luxury-drive, very cold, to the South [District], much warmer, with bigger traffic and a younger clientele.”

Ami Paris’ pop-up café is slated to launch in Bangkok, Los Angeles and Tokyo next. The cafés will feature Ami Paris merch such as mugs and tote bags. As for the permanent café location in Beijing, Santi-Weil shares, “We want to pay tribute to Beijing Sanlitun because it’s our first [mainland China] partner. It’s also a big investment on our side, so we want to make sure it’s perfect and then develop.” The café opens on September 29.