Introduction:What happens when esports meets specialty coffee? Luckin Coffee has teamed up with the S11 World Champion EDG team from League of Legends to create the country’s first co-branded themed store in Shanghai, blending cyberpunk aesthetics with an immersive gaming experience zone. This article takes an in-depth look at the design highlights of this long-awaited store—eagerly anticipated by over 6 million fans—and reveals how Luckin, through cross-industry marketing, managed to expand against the odds after a financial crisis, officially surpassing Starbucks in store count to become the leader in the Chinese market.
The Chinese chain coffee brand Luckin has frequently rolled out surprising moves in recent years—from signing Olympic skiing superstar Eileen Gu to collaborating with the viral sensation Coconut Tree Brand. Now, it’s reaching into the esports space, where young audiences are highly concentrated. This deep collaboration with the S11 world champion EDG team from the League of Legends Global Finals not only signed the entire team as brand ambassadors but also invested heavily in establishing the first “Luckin x EDG Esports Themed Store” in Shanghai, expected to become a new pilgrimage site for fans.
Stepping into this themed store located in the esports hub of Shanghai, the first thing that catches your eye is the dazzling LED-themed signage and a professional-grade gaming experience zone(equipped with tournament-grade gaming chairs and high-refresh-rate screens), where customers can sip on signature lattes while watching the matches. Passing through the bullet screen corridor adorned with giant EDG team flags, the walls are covered with pun-filled messages created by netizens, creating a striking visual contrast with Luckin’s classic blue color scheme.
Going deeper into the store, the team’s history and honor wall meticulously documents key battles of EDG since its founding in 2013, including the iconic moment in 2021 when they defeated South Korea’s DK team to win the world championship. The most photogenic spot, the Infinite Fantasy Zone, uses mirror reflections and frosted blue lighting to create a futuristic sci-fi atmosphere, with visitors advised to go in the evening to capture the best lighting effects.
To enhance interactivity, Luckin offers virtual EDG honor medals to customers who place orders via its mini-program, but the team understands the importance of physical spaces. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic in Shanghai, the brand insisted on setting up shop here, largely because the city has the densest concentration of esports audiences in the country, and the EDG training base is also located here.
Looking back at Luckin’s comeback, the 2020 financial scandal severely damaged its brand image, but by 2021, it showed remarkable resilience. According to public financial reports, its self-operated stores achieved an annual revenue of6.193 billion RMB, with a year-on-year growth rate of 78.3%, and the total number of stores officially surpassed Starbucks, firmly establishing itself as the market leader in China. This esports marketing campaign not only targets the Gen Z demographic but also enhances brand loyalty through physical space engagement.
Although the exact opening date of the themed store has not yet been announced, based on the official released blueprint, the four themed areas are each thoughtfully designed: in addition to the aforementioned immersive experience space, there is also a specially designed bullet screen interactive wall for customers to leave real-time messages. Industry insiders speculate that this approach may serve as a reference template for future branches in other cities, and could even extend to seasonal esports-themed special exhibitions.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
