On April 16th, all the doorstores of Shanghai City Supermarket suddenly closed. The supermarket responded by stating, “Due to continuous losses, City Supermarket is forced to cease all operations.” This commercial supermarket is one of the largest import food and daily necessities supermarkets in Shanghai and even the Yangtze River Delta region. Recently, several well-known chain brands in China have closed their stores.
According to Securities Times, a circulated notice from Shanghai City Supermarket mentioned that “in recent years, Shanghai’s operation has been extremely difficult, and despite various self-rescue measures, it has become unsustainable!”
“The company has decided to dissolve and has determined to cease operations at all Shanghai City Supermarket stores from April 16, 2024,” Shanghai City Supermarket stated in the notice, adding that after closure, they plan to resolve the company’s outstanding debt issues within the legal framework.
The mentioned notice also stated that starting from April 16, 2024, Shanghai City Supermarket has entered a state of closure and liquidation, with employee salaries calculated until April 15, 2024, and social security contributions made until April 2024. Severance compensation (if applicable) will be properly resolved after liquidation according to the law.
Regarding the closure of Shanghai City Supermarket, according to reports by Yicai, the online customer service personnel of Shanghai City Supermarket responded by saying, “Due to continuous losses, City Supermarket is forced to cease all operations.”
On April 3rd, the official WeChat account of City Supermarket was still releasing promotional information, listing three stores at the end of the article.
As reported by Xinmin Evening News recently, the branch located on the first floor of Shanghai Plaza has blocked off the elevators. A food supplier on-site mentioned that just last week, they were still supplying goods normally, but on the early morning of April 16th, the company received an email announcing the closure of City Supermarket. Having cooperated with City Supermarket for many years, they were initially very trusting and found the sudden closure surprising.
The mall security mentioned they only found out about City Supermarket closing on April 16th as well, so they had to put up barricades and stop the elevators.
Seemingly sudden yet inevitable, a consumer messaged saying that during the New Year period, they visited a City Supermarket store and found it nearly empty, with very few customers. They felt something was amiss even then.
Public information indicates that Shanghai City Supermarket was established in the 1990s, focusing on operating a variety of international cuisine, with over 80% of its products being imports. It was one of the largest imported food and daily necessities supermarkets in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region. Shanghai City Supermarket was one of the earliest known imported supermarkets to Shanghai locals, with its egg rolls being highly popular among customers.
In fact, after experiencing three years of the pandemic, Shanghai and the entire commercial sector in China have been severely impacted.
In May 2023, the last store of Pacific Department Store (Taiwan-funded) in Shanghai stopped operations. Prior to this, Paris Spring Department Store (Hong Kong-funded) which also had multiple stores in Shanghai, closed consecutively. In 2019, Paris Spring Department Store’s Changning and 118 Plaza stores announced closure. By 2020, Paris Spring Department Store’s Hongkou store also had to shut down due to the pandemic impact.
In addition, BaLian Group’s BaLian Dongfang Commercial Building in Shanghai announced in 2022 that its Jiading store would officially close by the end of the year, leaving only two stores in Xuhui and Qingpu under the BaLian “Dongfang” series.
Recently, many well-known chain brands like Walmart, RT-Mart, Yonghui, Sun Art Retail Group, Carrefour China, and others have partially closed some of their stores. According to a recent retail and e-commerce industry report released by Fung Group, Yonghui Supermarket has closed at least 16 stores since the beginning of this year.