379 first stores have been launched in Wuhan. Who came out on top, MixC or the Wushang Group?

Many pleasant surprises in Wuhan's commercial scene happen the moment a first store makes its debut.

From the long queues at Jinlimen and New Niu Sukiyaki, to the impressive 3.0 version of rice dishes at Lijiang and Shoujisi, and to the enclosed construction site of Chanel's first standalone boutique in Chinese mainland, the familiar commercial streets of Wuhan are always dotted with new brand first stores popping up unexpectedly, keeping people full of expectations for the next one.

In the first three quarters of 2026, Wuhan's first-store economy delivered an outstanding report card.

According to Winshang Big Data statistics, the key monitored concentrated commercial projects across the city have introduced 379 high-quality first stores, with around 1.4 new stores opening per day on average, almost the same as the same period last year. Further breakdown of the data shows that what determines the development height of Wuhan's first-store economy is not the obvious quantity, but the brand energy beyond the number.

01.

What is the "gold content" of these first stores?

From January to September, one of the most notable highlights of Wuhan's first stores came from high-level brands.

Specifically, Wuhan has introduced 8 national first stores, 101 first stores in central China, 55 first stores in Hubei Province, and 215 first stores in Wuhan, with first stores at regional level and above accounting for 28.7%; urban-level first stores account for nearly 57%, forming the basic foundation of Wuhan's first store volume.

The 8 national first stores are all "non-standard store formats" of mature brands: MUJI small convenience store concept store, Liangpin Puzi community supermarket "Fresh Life", MAMMUT rock climbing themed concept store, Bawangchaji × Hubei Museum co-branded themed store, HPLY He Cheng store, Lin Qingxuan black gold store, Crocs experience store and Baoshuifu pastry and bread special store. This means that brands regard Wuhan as a "test pool" for innovation, and are willing to invest energy and creativity here to release their new charm.

Another set of data better illustrates the "gold content" of the brands. From the perspective of brand hierarchy, there are 227 brands of S, A and B grades among the first stores, and the proportion of high-level first stores is as high as 59.9%. Nearly half of these high-level first stores are located in Wuhan MixC, Wushang MALL, Wushang Dream Times and Wuchang MixC.

02.

Where do first stores prefer to choose their locations?

From January to September, Wuhan's first stores covered 10 administrative districts, involving 23 business districts, presenting a pattern of "leading by top regions, followed by backbone forces, and rise of emerging areas". First stores are clustered in core urban areas, core business districts and key projects, with highly overlapping location preferences.

According to the distribution of administrative districts, Jiang'an District, Wuchang District and Jianghan District recorded 84, 83 and 81 first stores respectively, ranking top three in the city, accounting for 65.4% of the total number across the city. The gap in first store attraction among the three core urban areas is small, and they maintain steady growth. East Lake High-tech Development Zone and Hongshan District tied for fourth place with 29 stores each; Hanyang District has 28 stores, Qiaokou District 21, Qingshan District 15, Caidian District 6, and Huangpi District 3.

From the perspective of business districts, about 89% of the first stores prefer to settle in business districts. The top 10 business districts with the largest number of new first stores contributed a total of 281 stores, occupying the "largest share" of the first store market. Wuguang Business District topped the list with 52 first stores, which is an undisputed "highland of first stores".

From the perspective of the first store attractiveness of projects, top commercial projects and high-quality brands attract each other. From January to September, the top 9 projects in terms of the number of introduced first stores are Wuhan MixC, Wushang Dream Times, Wushang MALL, Wuchang MixC, Longfor Wuhan Binjiang Paradise Walk, Wuhan Tiandi, Wuhan Xian'anfang and Wuhan Parkson Plaza tied for 7th place, and Wuhan Joy City. Wuhan Intime Creative, Trend Box X118 and Wuhan SKP tied for 10th place. With the slowdown of the increment of commercial projects, the renovation and adjustment of stock commerce has become the main source of attracting first stores.

Wuhan MixC has been open for more than four years, continuously releasing its attractiveness with the dual atmosphere of "one MALL, one street", and continuously launching a number of high-level first stores: brands such as BAI.GONG, Snow Peak, Joooce Market, Shanshiliu, SiyOu have settled in one after another, and its first stores are mainly regional-level and city-level.

Wushang Dream Times has long topped the list of popular shopping malls in Wuhan, and is also a priority choice for first stores to settle in Wuhan. From January to September alone, Wushang Dream Times introduced more than 30 first stores, including the world's first CROCS BY YOU experience store, as well as central China first stores such as Jack&Jones NBA themed store, Li-Ning Outdoor COUNTERFLOW store, Smartwool, Oneup, which promote the gradual upgrading of business formats and continuously refresh Wuhan residents' imagination of daily life.

Wushang MALL adheres to the high-quality product line and continuously introduces international fashion brands. Among the more than 30 first stores recorded in the first three quarters, 100% are high-level brands of grade B and above, creating differentiated advantages with "first store strength", including Lin Qingxuan's first national black gold store, JEMPER Junpei's first central China store, Biemlfdlkk's first central China outdoor store, Yunding Fragrance's first central China store, etc.

Wuchang MixC also has a fast pace of brand renewal, with more city-level and Hubei provincial first stores entering first, such as Chaowan Wujie, Wuliao Fresh Beef Self-service Old Hot Pot, ORC TIME, one moment, Jidu Quan, Jiangheli, etc. The number of high-quality first stores that have settled in in the first three quarters has exceeded 20.

Longfor Wuhan Binjiang Paradise Walk entered the top five for the first time, attracting 15 first stores to settle in. For example, Sushi Sushi had 2000 tables queuing up on its opening weekend, and waiting for three to four hours at peak hours is the norm, while Wesley Burger still has customers queuing in the afternoon on working days. The popularity of these first stores fully demonstrates the project's first store appeal in the catering sector.

03.

Which categories are most noteworthy?

In the first three quarters, among Wuhan's first stores, there are 165 retail-format stores, accounting for about 43.5%; 147 catering-format stores, accounting for about 38.8%, and the two together contributed more than 80% of the increment of first stores. Heavyweight first stores anchored to the city's level are accelerating to settle in, and cutting-edge brands with both high topic discussion degree and passenger flow conversion rate are pouring into the market.

Self-pleasing consumption prevails, "affordable, high-quality, designer" clothing is favored

Within the retail sector, there are 99 clothing stores and 62 fashion life stores, accounting for 60% and 37.5% respectively. Clothing and lifestyle brands are the core composition of retail first stores, but obvious differentiation appears in segmented categories.

In the clothing track, women's clothing has the largest number, with 45 first stores; clothing collection stores rank second, with 21 first stores, and the two together account for nearly 70% of the share of clothing first stores. Among women's clothing and clothing collection stores, brands with characteristics such as affordability, trendiness, oriental aesthetics, and original designers are expanding at an accelerated pace, such as ts jiangruiyi which focuses on affordable women's clothing, Chic Market and Youth MaZe with spicy girl college style, original designer brands URLAZH and LANDIOR etc.

At the same time, domestic sports and outdoor brands are gradually taking root in Wuhan: Biemlfdlkk opened its first outdoor category store, HAGLOFS, a century-old outdoor technology brand originating from Swedish log cabins, and Goldwin, a Japanese high-end performance outdoor brand, opened their first stores in Hubei, and Li-Ning Outdoor's first central China store launched the "COUNTERFLOW" theme, allowing Wuhan consumers to access more outdoor lifestyles.

In terms of fashion life, driven by emotional consumption, the "self-pleasing economy" is in full swing, the "fragrance" brands that were once considered niche have begun to enter ordinary life in large numbers. We notice that in the first three quarters, more brands focusing on oriental fragrance culture began to seize consumers' minds. For example, MO MAEK, Yunding Fragrance, Liti, Chillmore, etc. are all representative fragrance brands of oriental culture.

Cutting-edge tea beverage brands expand stores rapidly, catering with "cost-effectiveness + atmosphere" is extremely popular

Within the catering sector, Chinese catering, casual catering and exotic catering rank the top three.

In Chinese catering, Chinese light (fast) food with moderate per capita consumption and high table turnover rate has become the driving engine of first stores. "Eating a full meal for dozens of yuan" not only makes eating out a daily routine, but also is highly sought after by catering entrepreneurs due to its high-frequency scenarios. In terms of local cuisines, many new Yunnan-Guizhou cuisine brands have entered the market, such as Yesansi, Qianzhaizhai, Shanshiliu, sowee, Fan Dashi; Hubei local cuisine also has new faces, such as Da Wuhan Wuhan Cuisine, Qiaoshanyu Hubei Fusion Cuisine, Huduhe Jingzhou Flavor, Qili Chuxiang Fish Head with Rice, etc.

In casual catering, cutting-edge tea beverage brands are developing extremely fast in Wuhan. Amama Handmade, Chayu Yichang, Puren Good Juice, OUMOMO, ouo Thai Tea, Cha Changzai, Dongfang Molan, Taibennniu and other brands opened their first stores, while segmenting into juice tea, Thai milk tea, Hong Kong-style milk tea, lemon tea, milkshake and other varieties. After a round of rapid development of the coffee category, new brands have decreased, and only two first stores, animate cafe, 0566 Coffee Workshop, opened in the first three quarters.

In exotic catering, Japanese cuisine continues to develop vigorously, and Western cuisine maintains steady growth. Sushi specialty stores have a strong momentum of store expansion, such as Shoujisi, Bin Sushi, Yikou Fan, Sanhuli, Ru Sushi all opened their city-level first stores in Wuhan. The hamburger market has added three new members: Wesley Burger, Huanxian Burger, Youji Burger. Mijing Garden, Nanyaoli, Lidoo, Dangxia Repos have conquered Wuhan consumers with their cozy atmosphere and fusion Western cuisine.

Fresh snacks and "slight intoxication economy" have entered a period of rapid expansion

Among the lifestyle service first stores, fresh snacks, which have developed rapidly this year, have quickly stepped from a regional niche format into a national expansion cycle. Head brands such as Jinlimen, Jido Plus Jidu Quan, Youdian Tuijian, Juewei · Fresh Snacks have poured in. With mature product models and standardized store operation, they have become the "favorite" of young people for offline store visiting and online sharing as soon as they make their debut. Among the experience-rich culture, sports and entertainment sectors, the "slight intoxication economy" performed particularly prominently, adding new bar brands such as Lionwalk, TAKERU MUSIC BAR, 789, shuangx Beer, Zhiyin Xiao Guofeng Live, Vault.

The deep integration of first stores, first launches and original creations with urban consumer life is building an ecological closed loop that creates new supply, links new brands and stimulates new consumption, becoming the core engine driving the continuous evolution of urban commerce.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Winshang", author: Chen Jing, published with authorization from 36Kr.