On December 16, Watsons China announced on its official website that it will be closing all offline stores and its online platform in mainland China due to strategic adjustments, urging members to deal with their reward points as soon as possible.
The announcement stated that the last day of operation for Watsons offline stores will be on January 15, 2026, after which they will cease operations. The online Watsons official store (mini-program) will also cease operations at 24:00 on December 28, 2025. Watsons flagship stores on Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Tmall’s health product specialty store will stop sales at 24:00 on December 26, 2025. Only the cross-border flagship store and cross-border official store mini-program will remain in operation.
According to the Beijing Business Daily, as early as 2020, Watsons had planned to close four stores in Beijing. Some Watsons employees even disclosed that apart from Guangdong Province, stores in all other mainland markets are likely to be withdrawn.
At that time, a Watsons China spokesperson responded that the closure of some stores is part of the strategic initiative to continuously optimize their store network.
Publicly available information shows that Watsons is a part of the A.S. Watson Group and has over 320 branches in Hong Kong and Macau, making it the largest health and beauty product chain store in Hong Kong. In 2004, Watsons entered the mainland Chinese market by opening its first new store in Guangzhou, gradually expanding thereafter, with the number of stores in mainland China exceeding 120 at one point.