{"id":2871,"date":"2026-02-08T07:58:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/chinas-luckin-coffee-opens-its-first-high-end-store\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:58:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:58:21","slug":"chinas-luckin-coffee-opens-its-first-high-end-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/chinas-luckin-coffee-opens-its-first-high-end-store\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s Luckin Coffee opens its first high-end store"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108262907\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Chinese coffee giant Luckin opened its first flagship with premium drinks as the company takes on Starbucks Reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Luckin Coffee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>BEIJING \u2014 China&#8217;s Luckin Coffee is taking direct aim at <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-2\">Starbucks<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>&#8216; high-end roastery chain with a new flagship store in the country&#8217;s south that sells premium drinks.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Luckin&#8217;s first major departure from its original strategy of operating budget-priced coffee kiosks \u2013 a move that helped the company overtake Starbucks in terms of the number of storefronts in China.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the U.S. company selling off most of its struggling China business to a local investment firm, Luckin is proving it&#8217;s more than made a comeback from fraud allegations in 2020 that forced it to delist from the Nasdaq. <\/p>\n<p>The Chinese company on Sunday officially opened its two-floor Luckin Coffee Origin Flagship in Shenzhen on the border with Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to Luckin&#8217;s typical offerings priced at roughly $1 or $2 for an Americano or latte, the flagship store has nudged prices slightly higher for a range of pour-over and cold brew coffee drinks. Customers can choose beans from Brazil, Ethiopia or China&#8217;s Yunnan province, as Luckin taps into the geographical sourcing &#8220;origin&#8221; theme popular with Starbucks and other coffee companies. <\/p>\n<p>The new store also sells several specialty drinks such as a &#8220;tiramisu latte&#8221; with a pastry on top, according to posts on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. Users have started posting about 1 to 3 hour waits for the drinks since the store&#8217;s soft launch on Jan. 20. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108259579\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108259579\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000402430\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The 420-square-meter (4,521 square feet) store signals how intense the competition in China has become for Starbucks. Back in 2017, the U.S.-based coffee giant chose Shanghai for its second-ever Reserve Roastery &#8220;megastore,&#8221; after launching the premium store concept in Seattle three years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>But as coffee has taken off in China, traditionally a tea-drinking market, Starbucks has run into a slew of competitors from boutique cafes to chains such as Cotti Coffee and Manner \u2014 which often sell drinks at half the price as Starbucks.<\/p>\n<p>Luckin reported revenue of $1.55 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2025, a nearly 48% increase from a year earlier. <\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s just for the company&#8217;s self-operated stores, which account for well over half of Luckin&#8217;s China locations and most of its handful of overseas stores. The new Shenzhen location is billed as Luckin&#8217;s 30,000th store. The company reported a total of 29,214 stores worldwide as at Sept. 30.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108262908\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Pictured here is the second floor of Luckin&#8217;s new flagship in Shenzhen, China, that officially opened on Feb. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Luckin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>In contrast, Starbucks has just over 8,000 stores in China and around 16,900 in the U.S., its biggest market.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle-based coffee giant reported a 6% year-on-year increase in China net revenue to $831.6 million for the three months ended Sept. 28. Comparable same-store sales, a standard industry metric, was just 2%, but improved to 7% for the quarter ended Dec. 28. <\/p>\n<p>Starbucks did not share China net revenue for the latest quarter. The company expects to close a deal in the spring to sell 60% of its China business to Boyu Capital, while retaining a 40% stake. When the deal was announced in November, Starbucks said it values its China business at $13 billion, including future licensing fees. <\/p>\n<p>Luckin, whose shares still trade over-the-counter in the U.S., had a market value of around $10.46 billion as of Thursday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Re-listing and expansion plans<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Late last year, Luckin&#8217;s CEO Jinyi Guo hinted at plans to re-list the company in the U.S. He did not specify a date. Founded in late 2017, the company achieved a $2.9 billion valuation just 18 months later and listed on the Nasdaq in May 2019. But about a year later, Luckin said it discovered much of its 2019 sales were fabricated, leading to the stock&#8217;s delisting.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese coffee company continued to operate many of its stores \u2014 and kept its name and logo.<\/p>\n<p>Luckin also jumped to attract consumers through a slew of timely collaborations \u2014 with premium spirits brand <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-14\">Moutai<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>, the Minions cartoon characters and the hit video game Black Myth: Wukong just days after it surged in popularity.<\/p>\n<p>What sets Luckin apart has been its ability to build a robust pool of private user traffic through its smartphone ordering app, said Mingchao Xiao, founder of Zhimeng Trends Consulting. Rather than placing orders with a counter clerk, Luckin customers select and pay for drinks directly through an app.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s coffee market is still in a period of rapid change, Xiao said. He added that young consumers today are more willing to try different experiences, and seek emotional fulfillment, which can be met through cross-industry brand collaborations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-test=\"WildCardEmbed\">\n<div class=\"WildcardEmbed-wrapper\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n\tdiv {box-sizing: border-box;}\n\t\n\t.noselect {\n\t  -webkit-touch-callout: none; \/* iOS Safari *\/\n\t\t-webkit-user-select: none; \/* Safari *\/\n\t\t -khtml-user-select: none; \/* Konqueror HTML *\/\n\t\t   -moz-user-select: none; \/* Old versions of Firefox *\/\n\t\t\t-ms-user-select: none; \/* Internet Explorer\/Edge *\/\n\t\t\t\tuser-select: none; \/* Non-prefixed version, currently\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  supported by Chrome, Edge, Opera and Firefox *\/\n\t}\n\t\n\t#tcc-wrapper {width: 100%; max-width: 620px; min-width: 300px; cursor: pointer; display: block;}\n\t\n\t.tcc-widget-content {\n\t\tfont-family: Proxima Nova,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;\n\t\tfont-size: 16px;\n\t\tline-height: 24px;\n\t\tfont-weight: 400; \n\t\tcolor: #000;\n\t\tpadding: 16px 0 16px 0;\n\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\theight: auto;\n\t\tborder-top: 1px solid #cccccc;\n\t\tborder-bottom: 1px solid #cccccc;\n\t}\n\t\n\t.tcc-logo-col {\n\t\tfloat: left;\n   \t\tmargin-right: 20px;\n\t}\n\t\n\t.tcc-text-col {\n\t\t\n\t}\n\t\n\t.tcc-text a {\n\t\tcolor: #0053CF !important;\n\t\ttext-decoration: none;\n\t\tfont-weight: 600; \n\t}\n\t\n\t\n\n]]><\/style>\n<div id=\"tcc-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"tcc-widget-content\">\n<div class=\"tcc-logo-col\">\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fm.cnbc.com\/applications\/cnbc.com\/resources\/styles\/skin\/special-reports\/the-china-connection\/tcc_widget_logo_2026.png\" width=\"278\" height=\"auto\"\/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"tcc-text-col\">\n<div class=\"tcc-text\">Weekly analysis and insights from Asia&#8217;s largest economy in your inbox<br \/>\n\t\t\tSubscribe now<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Like many Chinese companies, Luckin is also ramping up its global expansion.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, Luckin opened its first U.S. stores in New York City. It debuted its 10th store in the city on Feb. 6.<\/p>\n<p>Luckin also has 68 stores in Singapore after it entered the market nearly three years ago, and 45 jointly operated locations in Malaysia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese coffee giant Luckin opened its first flagship with premium drinks as the company takes on Starbucks Reserve. Luckin Coffee BEIJING \u2014 China&#8217;s Luckin Coffee is taking direct aim at Starbucks&#8216; high-end roastery chain with a new flagship store in the country&#8217;s south that sells premium drinks. It&#8217;s Luckin&#8217;s first major departure from its original [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[790,2786,2788,2785,2787,560],"class_list":["post-2871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-chinas","tag-coffee","tag-highend","tag-luckin","tag-opens","tag-store"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}