China News Service, Nanchang, October 2 (Reporter Wu Pengquan) During this year’s National Day holiday, Meituan’s Xiaoxiang Supermarket’s first offline store in Central China, located in the T16 shopping mall in Honggutan District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, received intensive customer traffic and became a local consumer check-in hotspot.
"Post-00s" Xiong Yu purchased fruits and snacks with her friends and took photos of a bag full of products to share on social platforms. In her view, young people are keen on checking into first stores, not only following the trend and taking photos, but also pursuing a one-stop shopping experience. "There are a variety of products here. You can either go to the store to select them, or place an order via mobile phone and have them delivered to your home. Holiday shopping is convenient and worry-free."
In recent years, many well-known chain brands have chosen to set up shop in Nanchang, and new stores have been launched intensively, including many of their first stores in Jiangxi and central China. Public data shows that in the first eight months of this year, Nanchang introduced 118 first stores of various brands, a year-on-year increase of 25%.
The first store is becoming the “traffic code” that drives urban consumption in Nanchang. On New Year's Day in 2025, Domino's, the world's most popular pizza brand, opened its first store in Jiangxi in Nanchang. In the first month of its opening, more than 100,000 pizzas were sold, with turnover exceeding 7 million yuan. Zhang Zihao, the head of Domino's Jiangxi affairs, said that Nanchang's business district is evenly distributed and the city's transportation is convenient, which is suitable for the brand's 30-minute delivery service advantage.
Shopping malls are popular locations for opening first stores. Nanchang Honggutan Vientiane City and Vientiane World have successively introduced many Jiangxi first stores such as Holiland and Jinlimen, attracting many young people to check in and spend money during the National Day holiday; the first UNNY CLUB cosmetics store in Jiangxi has been launched in the Parkson business district, setting off a new craze in local fashion consumption.
The endless emergence of first store formats has brought differentiated and diversified new experiences to the Nanchang consumer market. Xiaoxiang Supermarket's first offline store in Central China creates an integrated consumption scene of "shopping and eating". Xiao Chunjian, general manager of public affairs at Meituan, noticed that residents’ consumption is changing from “buying goods” to “focusing on experiences”. The first store relies on diverse scenes to attract customer flow and activates consumption growth with supply innovation. “Our first store in Central China was opened in Nanchang because of its vitality and potential as a regional consumption center.”
Nanchang’s “first store economy” continues to heat up thanks to policy support. Nanchang City can receive up to 500,000 yuan in support for domestic and foreign commercial brands that open their first stores in Jiangxi, and domestic and foreign retail companies that open their first stores in Jiangxi. Domestic and foreign catering companies that open their first stores in Jiangxi in Chang can receive up to 200,000 yuan in support.
Zheng Yating, an expert from the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the popularity of Nanchang's "first store economy" is a reflection of the city's increased commercial attractiveness. The first store creates new consumption scenarios with differentiated supply and ignites consumption enthusiasm. However, whether the popularity of the first store can be sustained depends on converting short-term traffic into stable consumption and achieving long-term development from "attracting stores" to "retaining stores".
