Back in the day and when I lived here my favorite bar, bar none was Heaven Supermarket in San Li Tun, Beijing. Therefore on may return I was desperate to see what had become of it, with the best way to sum up the answer being “change”.
Gone was the former rustic affair and in was the “new” trendy Chinese super club. Thankfully though at least a few things had remained the same.
The Original Heaven Supermarket
So in the old San Li Tun Days there was a fabulous bar on the corner of the main street that was not actually really a bar. It was for all intents a liquor and beer store. You would then go in said store, buy what you wanted at very cheap prices and then sit either inside, or out on the wooden tables.
You would then drink your cheap drinks with pastor cups and try to dodge the Nigerians selling coke, the beggars and the drunk expats trying to fight and of course Chinese girls really struggling to hold their booze. This was old school Beijing.
I personally fell in love with this concept and though I had already ran my own DMZ Bar in China, where I to run a bar again it would be on this liquor store/supermarket angle. Well it would appear I was not the only one to have this idea.
The New Heaven Supermarket in 2024
Looking on a map we found that Heaven Supermarket had moved more than once, but was still on our manor. As we approached in though we were really surprised at what greeted us. This was a huge multi floor bar/club with a big screen outside and all the vibes of the ,ind of place we would not go back in the day.
In though we went and upstairs to explore. What we found was indeed a huge Chinese super club type venture, with a loud, bad live music set and all the cool kids in one place. The meant rich locals dressed to the nines, withe the theme among Chinese girls now apparently wearing Japanese school uniforms! Who would I be to argue with such progress?
Drinks wise though things had remained almost unchanged though. Yes there was now a very large and long bar, but the main part was the Heaven Supermarket and my word is it heaven. First you get the liquor, which for context offered a liter of Tequila for $20 and Jager for $25. Then you have the beers, which are a plenty and from anywhere you could wish for.
The next part though was my favorites, even if it was slightly lacking compared to old. This was the alcopop part, as in sweet drinks aimed at children. Here there were a few surprises, but also old favorites such as super sweet 600 ml cans of 12% fruity goodness that had made most of us at the table puke at some point.
Lastly though they had finally embraced the soju craze, and while there was no Smirnoff Soju they had most everything else.
We duly found a nice spot that was quiet enough to avoid the music and did what we came to do, drink. So, was it worth visiting Heaven Supermarket in 2024? Overall yes it was, although in my mind it has changed far too much from when it was my favorite bar.
Although the question here might also be, has it changed, or it is me that has changed? In reality probably a mixture of the both. With that being said though I can certainly see myself popping in here before a North Korean Tour.