Qingyunge snack shop in Dashilan, in the former Xuanwu district, will be converted into a Beijing-themed hotel after more than 10 time-honored Chinese snack stores retreated from the property earlier this June.

The building was under renovation Tuesday, emptied and with only the signs bearing its name left outside.

The three-story Qingyunge will become a Chinese-style hotel, a construction worker told the Global Times Tuesday.

"The whole renovation is expected to be complete in 20 days," he said.

Qingyunge, built 200 years ago, was a prominent market in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911) and early Republic of China period (1912-1949). Celebrities and scholars once went there to shop, meet friends and read books.

More than 10 time-honored Chinese snack vendors settled in at Qingyunge after the reopening of Dashilan last October, but due to insufficient customers, all the snack stores moved back out in June, the Beijing News reported.