What Happened to the Luckin Coffee Store on the Tsinghua Campus?

A Luckin Coffee outlet inside Tsinghua University's Qingfen Yuan has closed abruptly. The store, which drew long queues and waits of nearly an hour at peak times, posted a temporary closure notice on April 1 and later had all its equipment moved out. The withdrawal raises questions about the risks coffee brands face when they enter university campuses.

Campus sites offer stable foot traffic and lower rents, which is why more chains target students, a group with steady caffeine demand. Even so, operations were strained: during heavy order volumes the store's ice machine often ran out by the afternoon, leaving students to order hot drinks instead. Students had asked for a second campus location to spread orders, but the Qingfen Yuan store left first.

University campuses have always been a potential market that coffee brands compete to capture; stable foot traffic and relatively low rents make many chain brands eager to try their luck. Yet even a brand with as broad a customer base as Luckin, after opening inside Tsinghua University's Qingfen Yuan, once had people queuing so long it was hard to get a cup—only to suddenly end up empty and abandoned. From posting a notice of temporary closure to having all its equipment moved out, what exactly did this store, once so highly anticipated by students, go through? Behind the operation of campus coffee shops, what little-known risks and challenges are hidden? This article will walk you through the course of events and explore the practical difficulties coffee brands must face when entering universities.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

Caffeine's refreshing effect not only makes office workers unable to do without it, but has long made it a staple drink on university students' desks. Precisely because of this, more and more coffee brands are turning their eyes to higher education institutions, positioning themselves on university campuses in the hope of capturing this young group with a demand for caffeine consumption.

Inside Qingfen Yuan at Tsinghua University, one of China's top institutions, a Luckin Coffee once opened. The store occupied a good location on campus, and combined with Luckin's own brand appeal and its 9.9-yuan promotions, it remained popular among students and faculty throughout its operation, with business quite booming—during peak hours, it was not unusual to wait nearly an hour to pick up a drink.

Long wait times were only one of the problems. When order volumes were too large, the store's ice machine often ran out of ice by the afternoon, leaving students to settle for hot drinks instead. Despite the many complaints, Tsinghua students were generally still willing to buy into Luckin, and some even suggested opening more Luckin locations on campus to divert orders so everyone could get their desired drinks faster.

However, students never got their wish for a second Luckin in Tsinghua Park; instead, the Qingfen Yuan store was the first to pull out. On April 1, the store posted a notice saying it would suspend operations. Since that day happened to be April Fools' Day, some students thought it was a joke by Luckin and didn't take it seriously. But later, the once-bustling store was completely empty, with no trace of Luckin to be found.

This caught the Luckin-dependent university students off guard, and they rushed to post questions: How could a store with such good business suddenly shut down and have all its equipment moved out? This completely contradicted the notice's claim of "suspending operations due to store equipment upgrades."

In fact, checking the tender information on Tsinghua University's official website reveals that the space had already been put up for rent again since the end of last year, and the announcement clearly stated that the store's lease would expire in April of this year. From this, it can be inferred that Luckin's withdrawal from the Tsinghua campus was most likely due to the expiration of its contract.

Among today's coffee-consuming groups, university students make up a considerable proportion, so in coffee brands' expansion plans, campus stores are often an important part. On one hand, campus stores have relatively stable customer sources, mainly consisting of on-campus students and faculty; on the other hand, rents for university locations are considerably more affordable than prime spots like large shopping malls, so brands' opening costs are lower.

But when universities lease out space, besides considering student demand, they also assess whether the brand is suitable for operating on campus, and brands may face various thresholds set by the school when entering. Moreover, campus store leases are usually not very long; once the lease expires, direct renewal is not guaranteed, and it may well be necessary to participate in bidding again.

In addition, campus stores generally have to face the challenge of customer loss during winter and summer vacations. After students leave campus for holidays, campus store business often plummets; and some schools stipulate that they are not open to the public and do not receive visitors, which prevents some campus stores from making up for revenue shortfalls through delivery orders.

Opening a coffee shop on campus to cater to university students' consumption needs sounds like a good business, but even a brand with such high national recognition as Luckin cannot escape an ending of empty premises and a hasty wrap-up. Clearly, running a coffee shop well on campus over the long term is by no means easy.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original authors' copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, some images and text may not have been credited in time; please forgive us. If any original author has any dispute, they may contact the website to handle it, and once verified we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop"; please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.