From gourmet cuisine and trendy toys to sports equipment and fashion novelties, the steady rise of first stores across China not only offers consumers a wider range of shopping choices but also injects fresh vitality into urban development.

China issued a special action plan to boost consumption in March 2025, encouraging high-quality domestic and international product and service brands to establish first stores and hold debut events.

A "first store" refers to the first brick-and-mortar store established by an iconic brand in a specific market, such as its first store worldwide, in Asia, or in China. It also describes the first outlet of an existing brand created through cross-sector expansion or innovation within a specific market.

Customers select products at China World Mall, a flagship shopping space in Beijing. (Photo/Li Dong)

In Beijing, international brands are competing to open their first stores, which have become a rising force in driving consumption. At China World Mall, a flagship shopping space in the city, Swedish outdoor brand Haglöfs is busy preparing its first Beijing store.

Beijing's abundant international resources, profound cultural heritage, distinctive innovative character, and top-tier consumption scale make it a magnet for global brands. For example, among more than 400 businesses in China World Mall, over 100 are first stores.

The first-store economy must focus on deeply integrating urban renewal with consumption upgrading, said Wang Renqing, deputy director of the commerce bureau of Chaoyang district, Beijing. By the end of 2024, the district had attracted 2,372 first stores.

Beijing's recently released special action plan for deepening reform and boosting consumption encourages the opening of first stores, flagship stores, and innovative concept stores, as well as the high-quality organization of the global debut festival and other high-profile debut events. According to an official from the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, the city launched nearly 400 new first stores and hosted nearly 200 debut events in the first five months of 2025.

In May, international footwear brand Hoka opened its first global brand experience center in the iconic Xintiandi commercial area of Huangpu district, Shanghai.

After launching its first global direct-operated store in Shanghai in 2021, Hoka once again chose the city for its first global experience center, drawn by the mega city's strong sports culture and vibrant athletic atmosphere, said Wu Xiao, general manager of Hoka China. 

Photo shows a view of the first global brand experience center of international footwear brand Hoka in Huangpu district, Shanghai. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

An increasing number of international sports brands are setting up their first stores in Shanghai, including Salomon's flagship store in Xintiandi and On Running's first double-level street-facing store in the Asia-Pacific region. The growing presence of these brands' first stores has also fueled the rise of new business forms, such as multi-brand sports stores and cafe-retail hybrids.

The first-store economy has become a highly dynamic, comprehensive new consumption model and a new economic growth area, said Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy.

The continuous emergence of new products, technologies, services, and business forms and models not only enriches the content of the first-store economy but also injects fresh momentum into the consumer market, Zhu added.

Supportive policies have fueled the rapid growth of "first stores" in Shanghai. Official data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the city added 173 new first stores—including seven global or Asian firsts—with high-profile openings making up 23.1 percent of the total.

To attract younger consumers, an underground commercial complex in Jiangbei district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, introduced more than 140 first stores between its opening in 2023 and May 2025. 

Photo shows customers in an Italian handmade ice cream shop in Jiangbei district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

In 2024, 10 departments in Chongqing jointly introduced measures to support the development of the first-store economy. Recently, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce issued a guide reaffirming this commitment. Data from the commission shows that in the last three years, Chongqing has hosted more than 120 debut events and attracted 892 first stores from various brands.

To further boost the first-store economy, Long Shaobo, a professor in the Department of Public Economics at Chongqing University, recommended prioritizing business models that align with local consumption patterns, creating new scenarios that integrate first stores with the nighttime economy, and establishing a full life-cycle support system for first stores.

Source: People's Daily Online