Friendship store

The stores were state-owned and first appeared in the 1950s, when they were primarily frequented by the many Soviet experts assisting China's economic development.

The stores sold Western, imported items, such as peanut butter and Hershey bars, as well as high-quality Chinese art and crafts.

Prices were considerably higher than those in the country of origin but, because the stores operated as a monopoly for imported items, buyers had no other choice.

Items for sale included uncensored copies of Western literature such as The New York Times, so customers had to present a foreign passport to the guards to be permitted entry.

The Beijing store has a Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, Délifrance, Pizza Hut, and a bookshop which stocks a wide range of English-language magazines and newspapers.