SHANGHAI, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Shanghai has been gaining popularity since it started service about one year ago.
The roastery, which opened in December 2017, saw average daily sales of 64,000 U.S. dollars over the past year, twice the average weekly sales of Starbucks stores in the United States, according to Starbucks China.
The roastery in Shanghai is the second of its kind, with the first opening in December 2014 in Seattle, where Starbucks headquarters is located.
As the first Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room outside the United States, the Shanghai Starbucks roastery has welcomed an average of 8,000 customers every day since its opening, with about 40 percent of its customers coming from overseas.
Customers can take a close look at the coffee bean roasting process and learn about coffee culture in different countries around the world.
"The roastery has become Starbucks' top store across the world in terms of sales and popularity. We are pleasantly surprised," said a barista who works at the roastery.
As a store under the U.S. coffee giant, the roastery also hopes to see the stable development of Sino-U.S. trade ties, said the barista.
So far, the Shanghai Starbucks roastery has established partnerships with enterprises and agencies from 60 Chinese cities.
The roastery is not only Starbucks' innovation lab in China but also serves as a platform for customers to experience both Chinese and American cultures, while promoting exchanges between the two countries.
Starbucks has opened more than 800 coffee shops in Shanghai so far.
Starbucks' popularity in Shanghai reflects how the business environment in Shanghai, and elsewhere in China, has been improving, according to Kong Fu'an, head of the Business and Trading Office at the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.
Chinese people's rising purchasing power has brought about vitality to the Chinese market and has provided new opportunities to enterprises at home and abroad, Kong said.
