Luckin Coffee's first high-end flagship store opened, going head-to-head with Starbucks.

Luckin Coffee is currently challenging Starbucks' "Starbucks Reserve" high-end series by opening a new flagship store in southern cities, marking its first major strategic transformation since its establishment. On Sunday, Luckin officially opened a two-story "Luckin Coffee Origin Flagship Store" in Shenzhen. Unlike Luckin's usual pricing of Americano or latte around $1-2, the prices of a series of hand-poured and cold brew coffees at this flagship store are slightly higher. Customers can choose coffee beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, or Yunnan, China, indicating that Luckin is exploring the geographic origin theme that brands like Starbucks promote. According to posts on the social platform Xiaohongshu, the new store also sells a variety of specialty drinks, such as the "Tiramisu Latte" with a dessert on top. Since its trial operation on January 20th, some users have shared that it takes 1-3 hours to buy a cup of coffee.