Beijing has seen several more boutiques selling lifestyle products this year. With a room, some beautiful jewelry and clothing, tableware, chairs, perfume, candles and art, and maybe a cup of coffee and some music, an ideal life begins.

Since when did more and more brands and retail stores enter the "lifestyle" field?

Beijing is not really a leading city in selling the concept of "lifestyle". Fashion buying stores that emerged in Europe in the middle of the last century only entered Beijing 10 years ago, and it took several years to advance into today's lifestyle design. Shopkeepers collect good things from all over the world and sell them in their own stores. This was first done in Hong Kong and then in Shanghai.

Hong Kong has Lane Crawford, China's pioneer in buying handmade department stores. It is probably one of the first retailers in China to use flexible store design and diversified displays of daily necessities to attract high-end consumers. Lane Crawford expanded the concept of fashion beyond clothing and resisted the depression of department stores. In Shanghai, streets lined with villas seem to be perfect locations for lifestyle, so they are blooming everywhere. It is not difficult to see that the two cities of Hong Kong and Shanghai have something in common. They have a more friendly walking distance. People walk, stop, turn around and enter a lifestyle store.

But in Beijing, lifestyle shopping stores have formed a more unique business format in a city with strong local culture. Beijing's business district planning is too concentrated, and the street design is not user-friendly. Therefore, except for the occasional scattered stores in the 798 Art District and alleys, most of these stores that are suitable for hanging out are concentrated in the open-air business district - Taikoo Li Sanlitun. You can almost come across one within a few steps.

But this is not a bad thing. The closed environment has accelerated the evolution and elimination of lifestyle brands.

The new store "Artemis" in Taikoo Li Sanlitun South District is only one street away from the "Algorithm" near the business district. To the north, SANLIPOP, a small store originally located on a nearby street, has also moved into the North District in recent months. They are only a small part of the many lifestyle stores in this area. Artemis's store is not large and sells pillows, speakers and stationery from European brands, with bright colors; Algorithm is a two-story independent building, which is enough to cover everything related to food, clothing, housing and transportation; and SANLIPOP, as its name suggests, has a strong pop art style, which is more avant-garde and literary.

It is not difficult for people who have visited these stores to draw the above conclusion, but this difference is not caused by category. On the contrary, whether it is Algorithm, Artemis or SANLIPOP, the items they sell are generally similar, nothing more than clothes, home furnishings, accessories, and scented candles.

People feel the difference from some more abstract "temperament". These stores all follow the same set of aesthetic standards from naming, store design to product selection, and they rely on this to attract like-minded people.

First of all, the name sets the tone for the entire store. Artemis means the goddess of hunting in Greek mythology, so almost all the candlesticks sold in the store are gold. Algorithm means "algorithm". Founder Hu Nan said: "There is an algorithm behind people's choices in life." She believed that people had exaggerated the impact of emotions on life choices in the past, so she found a rather rational word as the store name.

Under the rational name of "algorithm", the tables, chairs and objects in the Algorithm store are arranged in a more calm and restrained manner. Its space does not have too many flashy decorations, and the wallsThe color is close to cement color. Even the desserts provided in the dining area on the second floor have been specially removed from fancy embellishments in order to return to the original state of the ingredients. The dishes are selected from 16 countries according to the ideas of the buyer's shop. In the coming autumn in Beijing, the mottled shadows of the tree-lined avenues are burned onto the glass exterior walls of the shops by the afternoon sun. Hu Nan said that this is the "lazyness" she wants.

These many boutiques are competing to create different lifestyles. Each has its own world and is not greedy for the broader mass market. The scene looks peaceful and lively, but is it really what it looks like? Wang Xin, investment manager of IDG Capital, once told Jiemian: "In China, most fashion boutiques are losing money." Will this situation change as boutiques transition from fashion to daily necessities?

On the one hand, lifestyle brand stores have become another popular target in shopping malls. Wang Xin said: "The popularity of lifestyle brands and stores is a derivative of the transformation of commercial real estate. Commercial real estate is currently too homogeneous, and owners want to achieve differentiation in their own shopping malls, not just H&M, Zara, and Uniqlo. In addition, there is now a surplus of commercial real estate, and it is difficult for everyone to rent, so there will be a supply of large-area stores."

A month ago, "Winshang.com" reported that a lifestyle integrated store called LES AIRS decided to enter Shanghai and Nanjing. First-tier shopping malls did not hesitate to offer generous benefits of rent-free for thousands of square meters. Real estate developers hope that lifestyle integrated stores can bring back the strong purchasing power of Chinese consumers.

More importantly, these people are often very mature and old customers of luxury goods. After buying enough Céline, Gucci, and Chanel, they need new stimulation.

“Whether it’s clothes or home furnishings, when you buy them, you’re all looking for the same thing. These items are not necessary for life, but they may mean more than just having them, but to fulfill an expectation.” Paul Cheng said.

Paul is a practitioner in the fashion industry, and he has experienced such a transformation. Because of my professional relationship, I came into contact with fashion very early, and then gradually turned my attention to other areas of life. From desks to knick-knacks in the bedroom, to the living room, dining room, bathroom, balcony and bedside.

But when we cast our sights on the broader market, we will find that the unfamiliarity with small brands still blocks some people's actual desire to purchase.

Poi is a Shanghai girl. A year ago, she was transferred by her company to work in Hong Kong. In his spare time, Poi discovered many interesting boutiques on the streets of Hong Kong.The lamps, accessories, and tableware for sale come from all over the world, like a small United Nations. But when asked about how these stores made her feel, Poi said: "They are all beautiful stores, and they are just beautiful stores." In Beijing, there are many consumers like Poi. Sarah often goes to Sanlitun to meet friends, and they often go into lifestyle stores, but she still said: "Actually, I don't know much about them."

The challenges faced by these lifestyle stores in Sanlitun also come from competition with the surrounding large-scale buyer stores. Compared with those buyer shops with capital strength and strong reputation, private buyer shops have no advantage in competing for brands, especially after some foreign niche brands become more established, they will also join the big trees one after another.

In the North District of Taikoo Li Sanlitun, the integrated brand buyer store I.T Beijing Market opened by Rei Kawakubo and her husband Adrian Joffe is very conspicuous. This store is a cooperation store with Hong Kong fashion company I.T. It is the Chinese branch of the famous Dover Street Market and has a five-story independent retail space here. In recent years, I.T has continuously updated its brand library in response to retail trends. They have paid more attention to tapping emerging brands and the young market than before. Although the emerging lifestyle shopping stores have everything, clothing is still the best-selling part, almost responsible for revitalizing cash flow. Unfortunately, I.T mainly competes for the clothing business of small boutiques.

Clothing, catering and space rental are actually the lifeblood for the survival of lifestyle shopping stores. Most of the candles, ornaments and other objects that can truly be called life design are non-essential decorations, but buyers will still buy them for the sake of atmosphere and brand building. These items are only targeted at the 10% of customers who “look right” at them, so the liquidity of sales is very small.

This forces lifestyle brands to find ways to survive, and each has its own secrets. From them, it is not difficult to find some commonalities: First, as China's fashion industry slowly develops, boutiques have more domestic brands to choose from, which solves the problems of high communication costs and difficult after-sales service; second, if you cannot get an exclusive agent, you will launch cooperative models.

Algorithm's clothing is all from Beijing, and its collaborations start with food. It and the dessert shop "Private Practice" launched a collaborative cake. Before Algorithm, the land belonged to a charming Persian restaurant selling Iranian food. The founding team of Algorithm acquired this company with a complete open flame license and took over the small single-family building and yard through leasing, which gave the boutique a more flexible display space and the opportunity to specialize in catering. The algorithm also rents space to people who need to hold sharing activities. For example, Oysho, the underwear brand owned by Zara's parent company, once did a media preview here. In lifestyle, food and space are more mass-oriented parts and can attract a wider range of people.

On the other hand, Artemis is located in a relatively central location in Taikoo Li South District, Sanlitun. In this area with a huge flow of people, Artemis has never given up attracting the attention of passers-by. Due to the small actual space of the store, Artemis often sets up shop in the open space at the door. When it first opened, it cooperated with Dove’s parent company Mars, and recently invited the donut brand Dunkin Donuts to create pop-up donuts..

The store is never idle for a moment. Jennifer, the marketing director of Artemis, said: "Staff are the most important. For us, retail store consumption accounts for a large part of the total revenue, and the behavior of the store staff will determine consumers' purchases. Some products may not look obvious, but there are many stories behind them, and employees need to explain them to customers."

Artemis is endorsed by donuts, and SANLIPOP recently launched a limited-edition T-shirt collaboration with French fashion brand Maison Kitsune. This series called Pekinois will become an extension of Maison Kitsune's urban series.

Writer Paul Pollack once explained why most designers choose the richest 10% in the world as their service targets. He said, "To this question, a bank robber Willie Sutton gave the answer, because 'there is money in the bank.'"

This is another important reason why more and more brands and retail stores are entering the "lifestyle" field. Wang Xin believes that “this is the result of consumers becoming more and more social.” Every lifestyle brand has a fixed group of VIP customers. They want to be different, but in essence they are constantly looking for organizations that resonate with them in order to gain a sense of identity and security through lifestyle purchases.

This also makes shopping desire and emptiness grow together. Many years ago, it would have been unimaginable for us to own as many items as we do now. Even if you don't stay at home longer, the scented candles in the bedroom already have 5 scents, there are 3 sets of tableware in the kitchen, a floor lamp is placed in the corner of each room, and there are table lamps on the table...

"It's like eating snacks. For a temporary addiction, after a short period of satisfaction, you will be more worried, and then think of ways to make up for the loss. Some people can discover and understand themselves from books and interests., I seem to have chosen to purchase to complete the goal of self-awareness. "Paul said.

Sarah also felt more than once that when the scented candle she lit was extinguished, the pleasant illusion disappeared immediately. So you have to ask, what does it take to have an ideal life? Lifestyle brands may not give you the answer to this question.