The state of, and that which is 'wrong' with Dalian bars.
Well, currently, most bars in Dalian are pretty boring in my humble opinion.
I think all the foreigners who are trying hard to find some fun places, it turns out that people still spend lots of time to think about which bar they should go at the weekend because every bar seems boring.
The reason is also because there are not a lot of bars in Dalian.
In Shanghai, people also spend lots of time to make a decision where they are going on Friday night, the difference is that they don’t know where they want to do for too much good choices.
All the Chinese disco bars are still very popular in Dalian. They are big pub with Rock or Horse music and some dancing shows like Banana, Baidu, 2046, Funs club, Hense ect. Most customers are Chinese young people who go with a group of friend and enjoy dancing here. If you want to open this kind of pub, you will always get lots of Chinese customers. I don’t like that kind of pubs because I don’t like the music there and every bar plays the same. Usually these kind of bar is very expensive compared the standard living cost here. The cheapest beer is around 25-30RMB and whisky and cocktails can reach 45-50RMBin some bars<br /><br />
The bar most foreigner likes is still with cheap drinks and good environment and music. Dave’s Bar is a very old bar in Dalian. 5RMB Draft beer used to attract lots of foreigners before. Right now most customers there are still foreigners, especially Russian. First, it ‘s near Russian Street, Secondly, some Russian boys like to be DJ’s and play some music Russians like. Third, Cheap drinks! Only Russian customers are enough for the small bars sometimes. Last summer, Dalian got 200,000 Russian visitors, plus some business people, Russian students and sailors will stay in China for a long time. If there is a special party like 30RMB for 4 bottles of Tsingdao beer, it will be full of people. Noah’s Art and Sincere Bar(Nepolis bar) are some kind of bar with a little bit culture thing. They had bands and relaxed music all night which is quiet suitable for talking. But if you wanna go dancing somewhere with very good music, it ‘s hard to find one in Dalian.<br /><br />
So in my opinion, there is still a long way to go for the entertainment industry in Dalian. A bar in Olympic square named JD’s bar used to organized some foreigners parties by foreigners one or two years ago. It’s used be full of foreigners even got foreign DJs before. It’s a past anyway. Later on, the only music you can hear is R&B and hiphop and you will listen the same music all night long, all week long, and all year long. It seems never changed. But it’s a only bar people would like to dance. That’s what I mean at the beginning. Dalian does not have a bar with good music, international environment, reasonable prices drinks, and mixed cultures. Noah’s Art and Sincere bar are quiet, but this kind of bar will exist longer. Because they attract people who only want to have a talk with friends.<br /><br />
The entertainment Business is unstable in Dalian as well. In recent few years, some bars even went bankrupt after opening few months. You can name few like this. They might do not have an idea of running a bar, only copy what current popular bar’s doing. Or they used some unmarketable competitive way to get customers or they were unlucky for the customer who got stabbed or killed outside or inside bars. Some bars reopened few times, eventually It’s still failed. Why? Maybe the stories behind bar’s business can explain more.<br /><br />
Max, Flying and Funs Club are owned by same owner who seems really commit to run the business well. They used to give different kind of tries to make the bar better. They used to have Philippine bands. Although the cheapest drink is 30RMB for Tsingdao beer, they can still get customers for some special shows or good bands. People who go there can afford it.<br /><br />
You can not run a bar on the same level as in Beijing or Shanghai. Both Chinese and foreigner here do not make as much as People in shanghai and Beijing make. If you want to open a bar in Dalian, you have to consider some local situations as well. Dalian is a city where has a strong Japanese and Russian culture. Japanese people like to go to Japanese bars or Massage places probably. Russians like Rock, horse or electric music, Black people and Korean people here like Hip- hop and R & B. Most Chinese people also like hip-hop music which is strong influenced by Korean pop culture.
I used to be involved in a place called R.A. It wasn't qualified as a bar, but rather a basement that we had concerts happening on at least two weekends per month. The bands were always playing original music, rather than covers. We even managed to bring in a few foreign bands over the year and a half we had the place (three German bands and two French). We finally lost our lease, because the person we were renting from decided he wasn't a fan of music.
We can still arrange for bands to play, both local and foreign, but we lack a location.
The bass player I'm with has an uncle that is a successful restaurant owner, and he recently mentioned an interest in opening a bar, but at this stage of the game it's only talk. We can only hope that it moves beyond that to some sort of planning stage. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
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