Specialty shops find the right blend for success

On Nanjing Road in Shanghai, one of the city's main retail streets, long lines that form outside the Starbucks Reserve Roastery's huge building from 7 am are a common sight.

But just a few minutes' walk away on Shaanxi North Road, a narrower and quieter residential area, lies Sumerian, a specialty coffee shop.

When Starbucks opened its largest store in the world in the heart of the city last year, Dave Seminsky at his 15-square-meter Sumerian cafe was not intimidated by his neighbor, which occupies 2,700 sq m.