Dongsi Area: Address: 245 Dongsi Bei Dajie, Dongcheng District, Beijing Chinese Address: 北京市东城区东四北大街245号 Phone: 010-6400-0107
Deal is one of only two sneaker shops in all of China where you can buy pairs of limited edition Nike sneakers. This hip shoe store stock international special edition shoes by Ice Cream, Nike, and Adidas' Adicolor line, plus a handful of regional Asian designs by Nike (mostly space- age looking stuff from Japan).
Neiliansheng Shoe Shop 内联升鞋业有限公司
Address: 34 Dazhalan Jie, Chongwen Open Hours: Sunday to Thursday 8:30am to 8pm; Friday and Saturday 8:30am to 8:30pm. Phone: 010-6301-4863 Transportation: Subway Line 2 at Qianmen
Neiliansheng, Beijing’s best known shoe store, is the oldest existing cloth shoe shop in China (it opened in 1853), and it has a factory that still employs more than 100 workers. Cloth-soled "thousand layer happy shoes" (qianceng buxie), loved by martial arts stars and Mao Zedong alike, are hard to find. Cheaper plastic-soled shoes are taking their place. These shoes are well stitched and very comfortable. There are also some women's ornately embroidered shoes, modeled on Qing fashions. Fortunately, they are now available in larger sizes, even for Western feet. Bargaining is fruitless.
This store, with its two rooms of Western-size shoes, boots, and sneakers is reason alone to head to the area, and all the goodies are available in Western sizes. It stocks a variety of Nine West, Calvin Klein, and the Japanese cult brand Fin as well as whatever else the staff can lay their hands on. A whole room to devoted to men's shes (mostly casual trainer style). The staff know that thanks to their sheer variety of products, varying from 50RMB flip-flops to 1,000RMB Calvin Klein boots, that people will come so they make on effort whatsoever when it comes to service. And the store isn't online no matter what its name may suggest.
The savior of many Western-sized shoe fanatics in Beijing, this store may be small, but it's packed with more Steve Madden and Aldo brand shoes than you could wear in a lifetime. The stylish smiley owner will discount a little, but the marketed prices are usually in the ballpark as to what you will pay.
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