In the current era of personalized and diversified consumption, physical commerce is constantly breaking through functional limitations, building a diverse and complex consumption space through business integration, scene reshaping and emotional connection, and continuing to release consumption potential.
Taitung Hardware Store, located in Taitung business district, has a history of 89 years. Now it is attracting young consumer groups with its innovative “coffee + hardware” model, breaking the boundaries of traditional retail and injecting new vitality into time-honored brands.
Entering the store, young people are working and chatting leisurely in the coffee area, while old chefs are patiently explaining product knowledge to customers in the hardware area. The two completely different scenes coexist harmoniously here, forming a unique landscape.
When the aroma of coffee and the metallic smell of hardware tools are intertwined, a new consumption experience quietly occurs, showing the infinite possibilities of commercial renewal in the old city.
Integrity and innovation, time-honored brands open up new markets
Qingdao Taidong Hardware Store is the only “Chinese time-honored brand” in the national hardware industry.
At present, the hardware products in the store include more than 30,000 hardware products in 10 categories, including sanitary ware, building hardware, and plumbing pipes.
In addition to hot-selling bathroom and household accessories, it also specializes in the supply of comprehensive hardware materials, covering production line accessories, property maintenance tools and other fields.
What is unexpected is that in this space surrounded by metal tools and mechanical parts, the mellow aroma of coffee wafts.
Through the cross-border integration of “coffee + hardware”, this traditional hardware store has created a composite space that is both hardcore and warm, professional and casual – “T-space” screw coffee, bringing consumers an unprecedented experience.
“‘T’ stands for Taitung, and space means a coffee space that belongs to a hardware store. We hope to capture the new needs of consumers of different ages and types and expand new consumption scenarios through the composite model of ‘space innovation + product crossover’,” said Zhao Yang, chairman of “T-space” Screw Coffee.
As early as the 1990s, Starbucks proposed the concept of “third space”, using coffee as a social link to provide consumers with a leisure and social place outside their homes and workplaces to convey culture, exchange emotions, and create experiences.
Zhao Yang also had in-depth considerations when integrating the coffee space into the Taitung Hardware Store. On the one hand, he used the social nature of coffee to expand the market and open a new window for hardware offline stores. On the other hand, through cross-border integration, the Taitung Hardware Store actively expanded new consumption spaces.
“Offline stores not only allow customers to experience products on the spot, but also meet emergency needs for household and decoration accessories in a timely manner. Facing the impact of e-commerce, we always adhere to high-quality offline products and adhere to the ingenuity and credibility of time-honored brands. The coffee space has become our new
A publicity and communication window allows more people to understand us intuitively and naturally.” Zhao Yang said that compared with the low-frequency consumption of household hardware products, coffee has lower prices and higher repurchase rates, which can attract a wider customer base and especially enhance young consumers’ awareness of the store.
The reporter saw at the scene that in the 600-square-meter two-story “experience store”, the coffee sharing space has become an important component.
In addition to customers shopping for hardware, there is also an endless stream of coffee orders.
The menu covers Italian coffee, specialty coffee, decaffeinated drinks and hand-brewed coffee. It also launches seasonal desserts and mooncake gift boxes, making the hardware store more “foreign”.
Through the “space innovation + product crossover” model, this traditional store began to transform into an experiential comprehensive space.
Innovative concept, integrating “useful” and “interesting”
This is not an ordinary coffee space.
Here, practicality and fun complement each other, and the imprint of the old Qingdao hardware store is everywhere.
In terms of decoration style, the store is unique. It not only retains the industrial style of the original hardware store, but also incorporates the comfortable elements of a modern coffee shop to create a unique space aesthetic.
Product design also has cross-border characteristics.
For example, the naming of coffee products is full of “hard-core” characteristics. “Jack American” is actually a 1-liter bottle of espresso, which means boosting spirits and sharing happiness.
The candy shape incorporates hardware elements such as screws and hammers, as well as marine elements such as shells and mermaids, making it lively and interesting.
Products such as “Tsingtao Beer American” and “Laoshan Frozen Lemon Tea” highlight local characteristics and show Qingdao’s local culture.
These creative products are not only popular in the store, but have also become internet celebrity products on social media, with many customers coming to check in and share them.
Faced with the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, the store also launched the “Moonlight Treasure Box” mooncake gift box, with a red tool box as the outer box and the futuristic IP image “DingTalk” in the center. In addition to mooncakes, coffee, screw sugar, it also comes with refrigerator magnets and Luban rulers, which is both special and practical.
It is worth mentioning that the store also injects environmental protection concepts and innovatively reuses coffee grounds to make products such as candles and soaps. It also leads children to practice environmental protection and hand-make coffee candles through the “Business District Study Classroom”.
These activities not only enhance the store’s sense of social responsibility, but also provide meaningful parent-child experiences for family customers, further expanding the store’s influence.
“Taitung Hardware has always adhered to the concept of ‘doing business first,’ and the coffee beans are of high quality and reasonably priced. It is this integrity that continues.” Zhao Yang said, “For example, Tsingtao Beer American uses beer from the same factory without any additives; tomato and cucumber ice
We use fresh ingredients from Hema.
Now, we have a new slogan, Screws Show off the coffee, show off the style like a little whirlwind.”
The new retail scene has brought about a two-way traffic flow effect, and the coffee orders have continued, and the hardware products have also taken the opportunity to gain more exposure.
From the consumer side, “coffee + hardware” satisfies consumers’ pursuit of novel experiences and provides emotional value with unique scenes, business formats and products; from the production side, the new business format injects new vitality into time-honored brands, changes consumers’ stereotypes of traditional hardware stores, and opens up new paths for industry development.
This is not the end.
It is understood that in the future, the store will continue to adjust according to demand and further meet consumers’ needs for household hardware by expanding the coffee area, optimizing the structure of hardware products, and promoting product classification for life. At the same time, it will also take into account the cultural and leisure functions of the “third space” of the coffee area to truly achieve the perfect integration of “useful” and “interesting”.
