Ghost street at Qianmen

 Few customers frequent the Donglaishun Hotpot Restaurant on Qianmen Street at lunchtime Monday. Photo: Wang Zi

High rents are driving out restaurants at Qianmen Street and many old-Beijing snack shops have already closed, leaving the authorities desperate for a new plan.

A waitress at Donglaishun Hotpot Restaurant at Qianmen Street yawned at noon Monday as she welcomed the few guests arriving. At the dinner hall of Donglaishun on the second floor of the Cate Broadway building, there were a few customers at lunchtime.

"Fifteen yuan ($2.21) for a bowl of noodles. It is a little expensive but it is hand-rolled and different," the boss of the Beijing Noodles with Soy Bean Paste Stand said.

His eatery was the only one still open Monday on the third floor as 24 restaurants serving traditional Beijing snacks have already left.

"This restaurant probably will be closed and the Qianmen Street Administrative Commission is planning a new business mode," an official at the commission told the Beijing News.

An arts and crafts store owner Lü Aili told the Global Times Monday that her store is at the junction of Qianmen Street and Dashilan and receives more customers than other stores at the south end of Qianmen. Her store receives 300 customers on an average day but still she finds it hard to make a profit with a rent so high.

She has to pay the rent for her 400-square-meter store at 42 yuan ($6.18) per square meter per day. That means she pays 504,000 yuan ($74,144.85) for rent per month and more than 100,000 yuan ($14,711.28) each month for power and property management fees.

"The 20,000 yuan ($2,941.97) daily business income cannot cover the expenses," she said. Another six craft stores have stopped paying rent, according to her.

Compared with the Qianmen store, Lü said she felt more easy about her store at Hongqiao Market, which she pays just 19 yuan ($2.80) per square meter for each day.

"I feel pressure to manage this restaurant, and it's a shame to always ask for money from our parent company to support us because we are losing money every day," a manager surnamed Xu at Hundunhou Restaurant, a traditional Beijing restaurant, told the Global Times.

But she said her restaurant could not retreat like other private companies due to fewer customers. Her restaurant is a state-owned company and has to maintain the operation to support the pride of the government.

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Source: China.org.cn - China news