The number of first-entry stores has surged by 60%, and non-standard store formats are gaining great popularity. Why is Chongqing so hot?

Chongqing, a vibrant city, is seeing rising popularity. During this year's May Day holiday, Chongqing remained firmly among the world's top popular tourist destinations. In July, with the approval of the State Council, Chongqing was included in the list of "Key Cities for Cultivating Inbound Tourism" in the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of a Tourism Power. According to statistics, the national summer tourism popularity has increased by more than 40% year-on-year, and Chongqing has steadily ranked among the top ten most popular domestic destinations, with strong vitality in cultural and tourism consumption. Against this background, how did Chongqing's consumer market perform in the second quarter? The core data are as follows:

Q2 Highlights>>> The consumer market maintained a steady growth trend. Although the passenger flow fluctuated slightly month-on-month, it has shown a recovery signal year-on-year. The vacancy rate was under phased pressure month-on-month, while it showed an improving trend year-on-year, and the overall fundamentals are stabilizing and improving. Both the quantity and quality of the first-store economy have risen, with non-standard first stores, overseas brands and local original brands active at the same time, and the categories are increasingly diversified.

01

Business Overview

In the first half of the year, the total retail sales of consumer goods of Chongqing reached 849.138 billion yuan, up 2.3% year-on-year, 0.5 percentage points higher than that of the first quarter. By consumption type, retail sales of goods reached 748.89 billion yuan, up 2.3%; catering revenue reached 100.248 billion yuan, up 2.1%.

The sales of some upgraded commodities grew rapidly, among which the retail sales of sports and entertainment goods increased by 22.5%, and the retail sales of communication equipment increased by 12.6%, driving the total retail sales of commodities of enterprises above designated size in the city to increase by 0.7 percentage points together.

In terms of stock/increment performance, 1 new project was opened in the second quarter, which is Wuyue Plaza Yongchuan Chongqing. (Statistical scope: opened shopping malls, outlet malls and independent department stores with no limit on volume)

On May 1, Wuyue Plaza Yongchuan Chongqing officially opened, aiming to build a new landmark integrating culture, tourism and commerce in western Chongqing. As the 6th Wuyue Plaza deployed by Xincheng in Chongqing, the project is located at the strategic node of Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, cooperates with Chongqing Cultural Tourism Investment Group in an asset-light mode, and builds a major municipal-level cultural livelihood project in Chongqing around the positioning of Yongchuan as a "pioneer zone for high-quality development and demonstration zone for high-quality life". Wuyue Plaza Yongchuan Chongqing has a commercial area of 114,000 square meters, equipped with more than 1300 parking spaces. It opened with more than 200 brands, gathering 84 first stores, including 25 first stores in Chongqing and 59 first stores in Yongchuan.

In terms of passenger flow, the average daily monthly passenger flow of benchmark shopping malls in Chongqing in Q2 was 17,000 person-times, down 1.83% from Q1, but up 2.37% year-on-year from Q2 last year. The slight month-on-month decline is a short-term fluctuation, and the year-on-year increase is the fundamental trend, which signals a continuous recovery, and the peak consumption season of September and October is poised for growth.

In terms of vacancy rate, the vacancy rate of benchmark shopping malls in Chongqing in Q2 was 10.64%, 0.73% higher than that in Q1, which is short-term pressure from phased adjustment and renovation; it dropped by 3.27% year-on-year compared with last year, showing an obvious overall improving trend.

On the "Chongqing Popular Shopping Mall Ranking" published monthly by Winshang Co., Ltd., from April to June, Longfor Chongqing Times Paradise Walk, Chongqing Guanyinqiao Dae Mall, and Chongqing Fangyuan LIVE topped the list for three consecutive months as the TOP1 of super-large projects, TOP1 of large projects, and TOP1 of small and medium-sized projects respectively. Chongqing Starlight 68 Plaza, Chongqing Fortune MALL, Chongqing S,95 Meta Center, Chongqing Xixi Mall, and Chongqing Lvgang Fortune Plaza are new on the quarterly list.

02

Brand Opening and Closing

In the second quarter, the opening-closing ratio of stores of benchmark shopping malls in Chongqing was 0.88, down 0.48 compared with the first quarter, and the enthusiasm of brands to open stores decreased. Among the newly opened stores, S-level brands achieved a breakthrough in store opening compared with the first quarter, brands of Class B and above accounted for more than 50%, and the overall brand level is relatively high, indicating that leading brands are still increasing their layout, and the overall entry quality has not decreased.

Specific to business formats, the opening-closing ratio of stores in retail, catering, and parent-child sectors are all below 1, down from the previous quarter, and the enthusiasm of brands to expand stores has decreased; the opening-closing ratio of life service is 1.07, and that of culture, sports and entertainment is 1.10. Although it has fallen slightly from the previous quarter, it still maintains a net increase and shows resilience.

The top 10 brands with the largest number of newly opened stores are: VERO MODA, Green Box Nutritionist's Light Food Kitchen, Langxiaobei Chaoshan Casserole Porridge, Baizhu Gong, Xiaonanjiang, Jidebao Growth Center, geoskincare, Leke Sports, Crocs, Shuimanman. The categories are diverse and scattered, with no obvious single format dominating, reflecting that brands are making up for vacancies rather than expanding across the whole track.

03

First Store Map

In the second quarter, Chongqing introduced 105 high-quality first stores, with a month-on-month increase of more than 60%; among them, high-level brands of Class B and above accounted for 37.14%, 15.6 percentage points higher than the previous quarter, and both the quantity and quality of first stores increased.

By business format, retail ranks first with a proportion of 46.67%, up more than 10 percentage points month-on-month. Clothing and fashion lifestyle are the absolute main force, accounting for 22.9% of the retail format in total, and non-standard first stores are emerging intensively. Typical examples include the first double-layer COACH flagship store in Southwest China and the first DOCUMENTS store in Chongqing located in Longfor North City Paradise Walk; Chaotianmen Chengli introduced the first Jiangzhu Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Chongqing, which integrates silver art with Sichuan and Chongqing intangible cultural heritage techniques to create an immersive local cultural experience.

Catering accounts for 36.19%, and casual catering remains the main force. Overseas brands and local brands compete on the same stage: overseas brands such as Philippine specialty potato store POTATO CORNER, popular Korean baking brand BUTTERFUL CREAMOROUS, and Korean idol's same-style ice cream brand yoajung are actively opening their first stores;

The local camp gathers the first BUTTER&COOKIE store in Chongqing (Jiali × AIECHTIRE co-branded store), new Chinese-style tea shop Daqi Tea House, kombucha brand Runwuji, Chinese national tea Gelato brand Congyunshan and other brands... It not only highlights the openness and inclusiveness of Chongqing's consumer market, but also reflects the original vitality of local catering, jointly promoting the diversified upgrading of catering first stores.

Fast food and characteristic full-course meals also have bright spots: KFC has built a cultural and tourism cross-border restaurant themed on Dazu Rock Carvings, located in Jiefangbei business district. With the theme of "Taste the Moment, Explore Dazu", it integrates the art of Dazu Rock Carvings statues, and builds an exclusive "cultural showcase" to display the charm of Dazu Rock Carvings in the main urban area of Chongqing.

Pizza Hut's hamburger specialty store "Pizza Hut Burger" entered Chongqing for the first time and opened its first store in Wuyue Plaza Central Park, achieving the national sales champion on its opening day; Wuhan century-old time-honored brand Cai Linji brings authentic hot dry noodles, Dashen Taishen focuses on Japanese teppanyaki, Zhuochunni and Chifan Huangdi Da respectively enrich local flavors with "new-style Chinese food" and "Xiangxi Tujia cuisine"... The diverse categories complement the categories of casual catering first stores.

Among the other business formats, life services account for 7.62%, with a slight month-on-month increase; parent-child sector accounts for 2.86%, and culture, sports and entertainment accounts for 6.67%, both of which have declined with reduced popularity.

04

Business Outlook

In terms of consumption activities, Chongqing has continuously launched a number of city-level consumption promotion events from the first half of the year to the early third quarter: 2026 China (Chongqing) International Consumption Festival, 2026 · Nightlife Chongqing Season, "Shop in China · Love in Chongqing" 2026 Summer Consumption Season... The events are continuous, covering from debut economy to night economy, from high-quality shopping to summer tourism, forming a continuous release of consumption enthusiasm.

Opening scene of 2026 China (Chongqing) International Consumption Festival Source: Official Account @Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce

Behind the event matrix is the accelerated implementation of the integration of culture, tourism and commerce in Chongqing and the continuous increase of policy support. Several Policy Measures of Chongqing Municipality on Strengthening the Cultivation and Construction of International Consumption Center Cities has issued 30 measures around six dimensions including consumption space, high-quality resources and service brands; Several Policy Measures of Chongqing Municipality on Promoting Steady and Positive Economic Development clearly supports the creation of new scenarios integrating commerce, tourism, culture, sports and health and the construction of international consumption clusters; the 15th Five-Year Plan Modern Service Industry Development Plan of Chongqing Municipality proposes to promote the cross-border integration of "cultural tourism + all industries" and enrich the consumption formats integrating commerce, culture, tourism and sports... The coordinated policy efforts provide institutional guarantee for continuous consumption activities, and also promote the integration of culture, tourism and commerce from concept to scenario-based implementation.

As one of the five national pilot cities for the cultivation and construction of international consumption centers, Chongqing is making precise efforts in scenario creation, format upgrading, and consumption facilitation. The peak consumption season of September and October is approaching, superimposed with policy dividends and event momentum, the consumer market in the second half of the year is expected to continue the recovery trend.

The in-depth integration of first stores, debut products, original innovations and urban consumption 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. In October this year, Winshang will hold the "2026 Urban Consumption Ecology Conference and Retail Industry Innovation Development Forum" in Beijing, where three major heavyweight reports including the Annual Debut Economy Development Report will be released on site. Please stay tuned.

This article is from WeChat official account "Commercial Real Estate Observer", author: Jin Guaer, authorized to release by 36Kr.