What Happened at the Industrial Coffee Shop in Shougang Park?

A Peet's Coffee store in Beijing's Shijingshan Shougang Park, built inside a converted coke quenching tower, drew a complaint after a customer who drove an hour with a Border Collie was asked to leave. The manager cited children in the store, though no prohibition signs were posted.

The industrial coffee setting opened in an abandoned tower and quickly became a check-in spot, with social media posts describing it as pet-friendly. Shougang Park has open lawns used by dog owners, and some park food and beverage shops display pet-friendly banners. The gap between that label and store policy is now under discussion among pet owners.

Beijing's Shijingshan Shougang Park has become a popular check-in spot in recent years. Peet's Coffee has transformed an abandoned coke quenching tower in the park into an industrial-style store, drawing attention as soon as it opened. Because the park has open lawns suitable for dog walking, many pet owners see this new store as a pet-friendly café. However, a customer who drove an hour to the store with a Border Collie was asked to leave by the store manager on the grounds that "there are children in the store." The store has no prohibition signs, yet pet-friendly visit posts are circulating on social media. This controversy over a "pet-friendly" label that does not live up to its name is sparking discussion among many pet parents.

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Beijing's Shijingshan Shougang Park has become a hot internet-famous check-in spot over the past two years. The park's rugged steelmaking furnaces and other industrial-style buildings provide young people with excellent photo backdrops. As visitor numbers continue to rise, brands of all kinds are rushing to open branches in the park.

Peet's Coffee, known as the "grandfather of coffee," took a fancy to an abandoned coke quenching tower in the park and transformed it into an industrial-style café. It had just opened to customers last weekend and immediately drew curious netizens, with many people making special drives to drink a cup in this uniquely styled store and, by the way, "quench their anxiety" inside the coke quenching tower.

Shougang Park is vast and has many lawns, making it very suitable for pets to move around, so many pet owners bring their fur babies here to play. Some food and beverage shops in the park also put up "pet-friendly" banners to attract pet parents to come in and spend money.

This new Peet's store is the same. On its first day of opening, customers brought dogs in to rest, and social media users could also be seen promoting it as a "pet-friendly store." But the day before yesterday, when a customer with a Border Collie entered to order, she was asked to leave by the store manager, which made her very angry.

The customer said that after seeing a promotional post by a park operations staff member, and then noticing that this staff member said in the comments that the coffee shop should be pet-friendly, she drove an hour to check in on the opening day. After arriving, her fur baby did not frighten other customers and stayed obediently by her side. But the store manager asked her to leave on the grounds that "there are children in the store," and would not allow her and the Border Collie inside.

Most pet owners understand that pets carry uncertain factors, and they also understand that some people in public places are afraid of fur babies, so they usually choose pet-friendly coffee shops to visit and also proactively avoid food and beverage stores marked "No Pets Allowed."

However, this newly opened Peet's store has no obvious prohibition reminders, and social media also has sharing posts from users visiting with pets. So in some people's view, this should be a coffee shop that uses "pet-friendly" as a selling point. They did not expect the facts to be otherwise.

Many pet parents said that if store employees are worried about pets frightening children in the store, they could completely post a "No Pets Allowed" sign in a conspicuous place to inform consumers in advance of the entry requirements. They should not keep promoting "pet-friendly" externally while actually shutting owners and pets out, leaving consumers happy for nothing.

At present, this customer has contacted the Shougang Park operator and confirmed that the park does not exclude pets. But she has not yet reached the Peet's store, and is also unclear whether the store currently has specific requirements for customers bringing pets inside.

Netizens believe that as the weather gets hotter, neither visitors nor pets checking in at the store are suited to staying outdoors for long periods. The store should clarify as soon as possible whether pets are allowed inside and inform people in advance, so that pet owners who come because of its reputation do not make a wasted trip.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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