Cornering the market

Hello Mart is embellished by wooden decor and warm lighting to create a comforting ambience. The wall in front of the main entrance is adorned with around 4,000 tailor-made ceramic plates, while the other side resembles a giant artwork made from farm tools.

Even though Hello Mart is not a regular supermarket, food is still the most important part of it. The market sells more than 200 varieties of live seafood, 800 kinds of fruit and vegetables, over 3,000 types of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, as well as 4,000 other products and snacks.

Liu used to run a food court and a large-scale seafood restaurant in the 1990s. He likes to wait at the pot to eat the freshly cooked food, especially seafood. "When eating grilled clams, the most wonderful part is to stand next to the grill and wait for the moment it starts crackling, which tells you it's the right time to enjoy the juicy meat inside," says the 48-year-old gastronome and retail veteran, who says he gained over 30 kilograms in weight from sampling and sourcing delicacies.

Liu invited over 30 popular food brands to set up stalls and cook on-site in the food court.

Notable brands at Hello Mart's food court include Sanlitun's bestkept secret Sanlitun Noodle Bar; Hatsune, the Japanese restaurant chain offering Beijing's top sushi and sashimi; Shanxiaotu, which produces crepes named after Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn under the supervision of a Michelin two-star chef; Hello Mart's own incubated brand Hello Coffee; and Niu Cha, a tea shop serving one of Beijing's most nutritious and expensive milk teas, the 108 yuan ($16) bird's nest milk tea.

Another highlight of Hello Mart is its seafood. Under an Imax-sized screen of seascapes, it offers freshly delivered seafood from dozens of countries around the world.