July Tea & Coffee Store Opening Ranking: 4,560 new stores added, 6,900 stores closed

On August 18, Yilan Business and Tea & Coffee Watch officially released the July issue of the *Monthly Report on China's Freshly Made Tea and Coffee Industry*. Notably, starting from this month, the statistical scope of this report has been expanded from 50 brands to 55. 7 new brands are added, namely Baozhugong, Dongfang Molan, Qilin Big Mouth Tea, Yinliu Coffee, Micheng Zhilian, Maiji Milk Company and 700CC, while 2 brands are excluded, namely Huka and Costa Coffee.

The newly added brands all have certain scale or regional influence, covering both the tea drink and coffee categories to enhance the representativeness of samples. The excluded brands are no longer included in the monitoring scope due to the adjustment of data calibre or changes in brand operation strategies.

Yilan Business data shows that in July 2026, the total number of stores of the 55 brands reached 235,500. After excluding the impact of newly added brands, the original 49 brands saw a net decrease of 1,247 stores in actual terms. Affected by the summer vacation, campus stores have entered a seasonal contraction cycle, and the market is expected to recover gradually after the school semester starts in September.

In terms of store scale, the overall scale is the same as that of the previous month, and the echelon pattern remains stable. Mixue Bingcheng is the only brand with more than 40,000 stores, firmly ranking in the first echelon of the industry. Luckin Coffee and Cotti Coffee rank the second and third respectively; Guming and Hu Shang Aunt have both exceeded the threshold of 10,000 stores; Nowwa Coffee, Starbucks China and Cha Baidao all have more than 8,000 existing stores.

Although the industry as a whole has experienced a phased decline, brand expansion has not stopped. In terms of newly added stores, 47 mainstream brands added 4,560 new stores in the month, a month-on-month increase of 5.19%. The top 10 brands all added more than 148 new stores, higher than the level of 104 in June, and the expansion speed of leading brands has increased.

Kyue Coffee is the only brand that added more than 500 new stores in a single month, while Guming and Hu Shang Aunt added more than 400 new stores. In terms of brand performance, current store expansion is still concentrated in brands with scale advantages and channel capabilities.

However, while new expansion is ongoing, industry adjustment is also accelerating simultaneously. 47 mainstream tea and coffee brands closed 6,902 stores in July, an increase of 97.77% over the previous month. The scale of store closures is significantly higher than that of newly added stores, which has become the main factor dragging down the growth of industry stores.

It should be noted that the increase in the number of closed stores in July is mainly affected by the phased suspension of operations of campus stores during the summer vacation, which does not fully represent the contraction of brand operations.

In terms of brands with closed stores, leading brands have expanded their adjustment range. The top 10 brands all closed more than 119 stores, up from 104 in June. Mixue Bingcheng closed 1,932 stores, replacing Nowwa Coffee to rank first; Guming, Lucky Coffee, Nowwa Coffee and Tianlala closed more than 500 stores; in addition, Shuyi Shaoxiancao replaced Wuyin Liangpin and entered the top 10 of the store closure list.

However, beyond the seasonal factors, the self-adjustment trend of some brands still deserves attention.

Nowwa Coffee and Heytea have become the two brands with the largest contraction this month. Nowwa Coffee had maintained a growth trend for a long time before, but it has contracted for two consecutive months, with a total reduction of 441 stores in two months. The total number of Heytea stores has continued to decline since August 2025, with a total reduction of 445 stores. Compared with short-term fluctuations, its adjustment cycle is longer.

From the perspective of final store changes, brand differentiation further expanded in July. In July, 27 brands achieved net growth, and 20 brands saw a net decrease. The top four brands in net growth are Kyue Coffee, 1 Dian Dian, Hu Shang Aunt and Ningji, with a total net increase of 840 stores. Among them, Kyue Coffee has become the fastest growing brand this month by virtue of its advantage in new stores, while some brands that previously expanded at a high speed have entered the adjustment stage.

From the perspective of regional markets, the tea and coffee industry is shifting from pure expansion to "stock replacement". Guangdong, which ranks first in the number of existing stores, currently has 18,250 stores, with 559 new stores added and 626 stores closed. For every 100 new stores added, about 112 stores exit, resulting in a final net decrease of 67 stores. Jiangsu and Zhejiang also show a similar trend. Jiangsu, ranking second, added 366 new stores and closed 586 stores, with a net decrease of 206 stores; while Zhejiang opened 309 stores and closed 312 stores, remaining basically balanced.

Some core cities still maintain growth. Shanghai currently has 6,889 stores, with a net increase of 31; Beijing currently has 4,037 stores, with a net increase of 16, making it one of the few provincial-level markets that achieve net growth.

At the same time, the way brands enter the market is also changing. In July, 12 brands re-entered cities where they had previously withdrawn. When Nowwa Coffee returned to Longnan, it did not open traditional independent stores, but settled in Guopu Shihui. In the same month, similar models were implemented in Xi'an, Shanghai and Turpan, opening a total of 5 in-stores in Guopu Shihui outlets.

Compared with traditional independent stores, the in-store model can reduce entry costs and attract customers through existing consumption scenarios, becoming an important way for brands to re-explore regional markets.

For more data on the tea and coffee industry, please pay attention to the full version of the *Monthly Report on China's Freshly Made Tea and Coffee Industry (July 2026)* jointly released by Yilan Business & Tea & Coffee Watch. In the report, we also conduct in-depth analysis of 55 tea and coffee brands.

From single-store site selection to regional strategy, from brand expansion rhythm to industry pattern changes, all core data, underlying logic and trend predictions in the dimensions of stores, products, marketing and overseas markets are fully presented in the full monthly report.