Coffee first, alcohol later

In light of the city's goal of boosting the nighttime economy, more and more coffee shop owners in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai have been transforming their cafes into bars when nightfall comes.

Among them is Han Wei, the founder of ROOTS Bar&Cafe, which opened in September last year.

Located on Jinxian Road, the store operates from noon until about 2 am. It sells mainly coffee, cakes and deserts during the day and alcoholic beverages in the evenings.

"The biggest advantage of such a model is that it can attract customers no matter the time of the day," said Han.

"This way, many of our customers who drink coffee during the day are willing to come back to drink again at night. At the same time, night drinkers will also be able to come back for coffee in the day. It's an efficient way to retain customers."

Han said that although coffee sales have been stable, they account for only 40 percent of the total revenue as his shop makes more money selling alcoholic beverages in the evenings.

Even the big coffee brands have been jumping on the bandwagon.

Seesaw Coffee launched its inaugural "early coffee, late alcohol" shop in Shanghai last August, while Canadian coffee label Tims followed suit with two such outlets in the city in October.

Local coffee brand M Stand opened five such shops in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Ningbo that same month.