Nespresso hits town, but at a price..

Excitedly headed over to the new, swish, Shin Kong Place department store & mall over the weekend to check out the Nespresso store that has just opened up there.

Our machine is back in London and the thought of making those delicious espressos in the comfort of our Beijing apartment got me down there in a flash.

My hopes were quickly dashed, however, when the sales assistant - speaking flawless English learnt during 4 years of university studies in the UK - told me the prices. More than twice the UK price for the machines and 50% more for the coffee capsules.

I didn't think anything cost more than in London...and somehow I couldn't get myself to shell out. Apparently, it's the high import duty charged by the Chinese government that has pushed this machine out of my reach. At least for the time being - but for how long will I be able to resist?

Shin Kong Place is a monument to Chinese consumer aspirations. Or at least to the aspirations of the hundreds of foreign luxury goods brands that are desperate to get their hands on China's new found wealth. Its a mammoth granite and marble shopping complex on par with the best of London, Paris or Milan.

Many of the brands with goods on sale in Shin Kong Place have had their products diligently copied and sold over the years a few miles down the road at the Silk Market. Now they hope to convince Chinese consumers to pay $1,500 for a real Boss suit instead of 1/100th of that for a tailor-made lookalike. But what is real? Most of these goods are made in China anyway.