Styldolce Café opens first Shanghai flagship shop
June 12, 2009, Shanghai – Italian franchise Styldolce Café today announced its ambitious expansion plan in China, by opening its first flagship store in downtown Pudong New Area. Styldolce, the chain of Italian coffee, gelato, and pizza shops, opened its first shop today in Shanghai on Jinyan Road in Pudong New Area, marking its foray into the Chinese market.
Styldolce brings real Italian flavor into China as one of the few cafés to serve Italian breakfast in Shanghai. The shop opens from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm, catering to different consumer needs.
Styldolce’s general manager and his family have successfully run their business of café, bar and gelato shops in Italy and Germany for 25 years. Styldolce has its own production laboratory in Shanghai to keep the food fresh and tasty.
“We offer more than coffee. The experience in our shop is a rich blend of Italian culture of food, drinks and lifestyle,” Styldolce offers a wide spectrum of products, including Italian coffee, beer, Italian ice cream - also known as gelato - and Italian appetizers. Consumers can have a taste of Italian coffee from just 10 yuan.
The café is also a showcase of Italian culture. On the café walls, all day long big screens will present trailers on Italian fashion and life style, soccer championship, opera, famous movies and singers. And on the same screens Styldolce will explain how to create its home made products, and how customers can better taste and understand Italian products, particularly espresso, gelato and pizza. Customers can also benefit from the WiFi service or pick an Italian book or newspaper from Styldolce library.
The financial crisis didn’t deter the company from opening its China shops due to the country’s strong economic fundamentals and rising domestic consumption.
The second Styldolce in Shanghai will soon be opened near People’s Square. Styldolce plans to open its flagship shop in Beijing in early 2010 and expand into Shenzhen in 2011. Styldolce also considers extending its brand to other Far East countries by the end of 2011.
Despite the financial turmoil, China’s retail sales still managed to rise 15 percent year on year in the first four months to 3.8 trillion yuan.
