The mainland high-end jewelry brand “Old Shop Gold” saw its stock price drop more than 67% from its historical high, with a market value decreasing by over 120 billion Hong Kong dollars. Meanwhile, foot traffic at its store in Chengdu, Sichuan, has slowed down, and sales at its Tmall flagship store dropped by 63% in the second quarter. As the price of gold retreats from its peak, the company’s high-priced sales and inventory strategy have come under scrutiny.
“Old Shop Gold” specializes in ancient-style gold jewelry with a fixed price per piece, rather than selling based on the weight of gold and real-time gold prices.
According to a report by the “Daily Economic News” on July 18th, in July 2025, the stock price of “Old Shop Gold” once rose to 1065 Hong Kong dollars per share. As of the closing price on July 17th this year, the stock price had fallen to 350 Hong Kong dollars, a decline of over 67% from its peak, resulting in a market value reduction of over 120 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Goldman Sachs has lowered its target price for “Old Shop Gold” to 650 Hong Kong dollars per share but maintained a “buy” rating. UBS, on the other hand, believes that the stock price of “Old Shop Gold” has already adequately reflected sales pressure, and the market may be underestimating its potential for improving gross profit margins.
Before the significant drop in stock price, both foot traffic at “Old Shop Gold” stores and online sales showed signs of cooling off.
In the “Old Shop Gold” store at the high-end department store SKP in Chengdu, scenes where consumers used to queue for shopping have disappeared, and currently, there is little foot traffic inside the store. The store still primarily focuses on fixed-priced products, but recently it has also started selling gold jewelry priced by the gram.
Around forty percent of “Old Shop Gold” products are priced between 10,000 and 250,000 yuan. A 50-gram zodiac gold coin is priced at 1756 yuan per gram, higher than the listed price of around 1200 yuan per gram of other gold jewelry brands and nearly double the price of around 880 yuan per gram at the Shanghai Gold Exchange during the same period.
Online sales have also seen changes. Data tracked by Goldman Sachs shows that sales at the “Old Shop Gold” Tmall flagship store dropped by 63% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year.
Some of the sales channels for “Old Shop Gold” have slowed down, coinciding with the overall weak consumption in the mainland. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China shows that in the first half of 2026, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China only increased by 1.3% year-on-year, with the retail sales of gold and silver jewelry in June dropping by 3.4%.
“Old Shop Gold” had previously increased its gold inventory, with inventory rising from 4.088 billion yuan at the end of 2024 to 16.044 billion yuan at the end of 2025. In February this year, “Old Shop Gold” had raised prices of some products by approximately 20% to 30%. Sales staff mentioned that they have not received any notice of price adjustments yet.
Recently, international gold prices have been on a downward trend. In late January this year, London spot gold was around $5599 per ounce, but by July 16th, it had fallen to around $3973 per ounce.
An industry insider expressed to mainland media that if the gold price continues to decline, high-cost inventory may face pressure for write-downs. And if current pricing is maintained, foot traffic and sales may continue to be under pressure.