In Henan Shangqiu, rumors of a supermarket on the verge of closing down have caused a rush of people fearing their prepaid cards will be reset, resulting in a frenzy of customers sweeping through the supermarket, almost clearing out its shelves. Some individuals couldn’t wait and began consuming food they grabbed from the supermarket, creating a scene reminiscent of a post-disaster aftermath. The supermarket has been forced to temporarily suspend operations.
Recently, a netizen posted a video claiming that a supermarket in Zhecheng County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province, was rumored to be closing down, leading to a large number of customers rushing in to make purchases. Some individuals even tore open food packaging and directly started eating and drinking on the spot, leaving chaos behind.
On September 6th, the supermarket staff informed a Chinese news magazine that since September 4th, many customers had heard rumors of the supermarket’s impending closure, resulting in queues forming at the supermarket. The foot traffic was several times higher than usual, forcing the extension of business hours until midnight and requiring police presence for crowd control.
The staff mentioned, “Most customers used prepaid cards for purchases, and while there were no widespread incidents of theft, there were indeed many cases of eating and drinking within the supermarket.”
At present, the supermarket’s goods have been completely depleted, and the extent of the losses is still being calculated. The supermarket has issued a notice stating that it will temporarily suspend operations for a few days starting September 6th and will resume business after restocking the products.
According to Tianyancha, on August 28th, the Zhecheng Xingfu Wanjia Trading Co., Ltd., to which the supermarket belongs, had a newly added enforcement information totaling 4.90 million Chinese yuan.
On September 7th, the “Net Information Shangqiu” WeChat public account reported that recently, certain online accounts on short video platforms spread false information regarding the closure of the Zhecheng Xingfu Wanjia Supermarket, causing a rapid circulation on the internet and prompting local residents to rush to the supermarket to make purchases.
In reality, the rumors of the “Zhecheng Xingfu Wanjia Supermarket closure” are false, and the supermarket has reported this to the authorities. The individuals responsible for spreading the rumors have been summoned for questioning.