Shenzhen's first coffee-themed post office opened at the Science and Technology Park in Nanshan District on Tuesday, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

A scene of the coffee-themed post office.

The postal service hall is no longer a traditional one, providing a new scene for citizens to socialize and experience postal culture, the report said.

Postal elements can be seen everywhere, with stamps, postcards and cakes in the shapes of mailboxes, mail carts and an old-style postman bicycle exhibited.

Visitors can also find a menu designed like a stamp and “mascots” wearing green postal uniforms there, bringing customers a distinctive experience. It also offers traditional postal services like mail and parcel deliveries.

The store provides consumers with a wide variety of coffee to choose from, with prices ranging from 16 yuan (US$2.34) to 58 yuan. In addition, there are many cakes and desserts to choose from.

A barista is making a cup of coffee.

The shop manager told the newspaper that it is a new attempt to explore the innovation of traditional post offices and an extension of traditional services.

China Post has been trying new business opportunities in recent years.

In February 2022, the country’s first coffee-themed post office opened in Xiamen, Fujian Province and quickly became a hot search topic on multiple social platforms. At least 14 such shops have been set up nationwide, in Beijing, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Ganzhou, Nanjing, Nantong, Nanchong, Foshan and other cities.

In 2022, China Post and ride hailing company Didi Chuxing jointly launched offline activities such as “Take Didi to coffee-themed post offices,” and launched a book circulation plan with OALTY, an oatmilk company from Sweden. It also introduced modes like “tea+coffee” and “day coffee+night wine” to attract more young consumers. It aims to open 100 such themed stores nationwide.

Coffee and tea shops have become a new investment trend in the nation in 2022, with over 54 companies obtaining investment of more than 3.6 billion yuan, incomplete statistics from consumption trend website tuoluwang.cn showed.

China Post has its unique advantages in developing coffee shops: public data shows that by the end of 2020, there were 54,000 postal offices and 43,000 delivery service outlets in China.

China Post has been trying new businesses in recent years: opening a new pharmacy in Ningxia in 2019 and its first milk tea shop in Fuzhou in 2021. In the third quarter of 2022, the company opened a supermarket in Chengdu. It also set up a Multi-Channel Network (MCN) organization to sell products through livestreaming.

China Post’s investment covers not only traditional ones like transportation and warehousing, but also culture, sports, entertainment, information transmission, software and information technology, real estate and other industries, according to information from Tainyancha, a national data technology service company.

In the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies in 2022, China Post ranked 81st. In 2021, it achieved operating revenue of US$108.669 billion and net profit of US$5.983 billion, both ranking first in the postal industry worldwide.