298 new stores! Supermarkets, esports venues, hot spring spas... all have started to march into outlet malls.
In August, the opening fever of outlet stores continued to rise, and structural changes accelerated to emerge: the first stores continued to penetrate into second- and third-tier cities, regional projects' capability of "centralized brand recruitment and adjustment" was enhanced, and non-traditional formats such as supermarkets, e-sports venues and hot spring spas poured into outlets.
According to incomplete statistics from Winshang, in August 2026, the sampled outlets across the country opened 298 new brand stores, hitting the highest number in nearly four months, including 237 brand-new stores and 61 renovated stores. Fashion apparel and sports & outdoor sectors contributed 86% of the new stores in total, remaining the absolute main force.
Heavyweight first stores sink strategically. Among the 33 first stores, 11 are national-level and regional-level first stores, accounting for 31%. High-end Korean light luxury designer brand WOOYOUNGMI, Salomon, Gen Z girlish fast fashion brand a blueberry and others located their first outlet stores in regional outlet projects of second- and third-tier cities. This phenomenon indicates that the site selection logic of first stores has changed, and the dividend of heavyweight first stores of featured brands is no longer exclusive to the absolute top projects in first-tier cities, extending to benchmark outlets in second- and third-tier cities such as Foshan, Changchun, Qingdao, Xinxiang, Suzhou, Nanchang and Guiyang.
The investment attraction logic of regional outlet projects has been upgraded accordingly, shifting from scattered investment attraction to strengthening category integration and first store matrix: The Phase II of Florentia Village Chongqing welcomed 18 exclusive new brand stores in groups, driving both passenger flow and sales growth; Shanshan Outlet Tianjin realized vertical depth of categories through intensive adjustment of 8 women's clothing stores and the simultaneous development of first stores and image stores; Tianmei Shanshan Outlet Jinzhong covered catering, digital products, home furnishing and other sectors with 12 brands, attracting consumers with broad scenario coverage.
01
Light Luxury:
Accelerated sinking, designer brands actively expand store footprint
In the luxury/light luxury sector, the store opening pace in outlet channels was restrained in August, with only 11 new stores, among which 4 are first stores taking a high proportion of 36%. The first national outlet store of Korean designer brand WOOYOUNGMI, the new store of alexanderwang at Vientiane Binhai, the East China flagship store of TOMMY HILFIGER and others continued to demonstrate the discourse power of the light luxury sector in outlet scenarios.
Among them, WOOYOUNGMI was founded by the first female men's wear designer in South Korea, and it is the first Korean men's wear brand that appeared on Paris Men's Fashion Week. It only has 2 independent directly-operated stores in China, located in Taikoo Li Sanlitun Beijing and Taikoo Li Chengdu, both top trendy luxury shopping complexes in first-tier/new first-tier cities.
To further expand its store scale, WOOYOUNGMI's first outlet store nationwide settled in Bicester Village Shanghai, which means that designer brands are shifting from "pure high-end direct operation" to the dual-track mode of "building brand image with full-price stores and penetrating the market with outlet stores". The store inherits the spatial concept of "integrating architectural aesthetics into design", and presents the high-level tailoring of multi-scenario apparel for commuting, leisure and light street styles with minimalist display, making it possible for consumers to buy runway-level ready-to-wear at discounted prices.
WOOYOUNGMI's first store in China - Taikoo Li Sanlitun Beijing
The new store of alexanderwang settled in Vientiane Binhai Shopping Village, presenting the core product line with American modern casual style, and inheriting the brand's design language of "blending exquisite elegance and imperfection". The East China flagship store of TOMMY HILFIGER located in Shanshan Outlet Hefei, presenting a full range of American casual apparel with flagship-level space.
alexanderwang Vientiane Binhai Shopping Village Store
Light luxury sinking is unfolding simultaneously: Dunhill, DAKS, GIOVANNI VALENTINO, S·DEER, CANALI strengthened brand experience in benchmark outlets of regional cities including Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an and Hefei in the form of renovated stores or flagship stores.
Different from sports & outdoor brands that seize the high ground with first stores, light luxury brands mostly upgrade their image and expand customer groups through "renovation + flagship stores". For them, outlets are still a battlefield where brand maintenance and incremental growth are equally important.
02
Sports & Outdoor:
First stores, flagship stores and super large stores are highly sought after
In August, the sports & outdoor sector performed particularly prominently, with 68 new stores opened, accounting for 23%. There are 12 first stores, accounting for 36% of all first stores across sectors, among which 7 are high-level first stores (national/regional/provincial). High-end professional brands occupy regional benchmark projects with first stores, while mass sports brands rely on large flagship stores to consolidate their presence. Outlets are accelerating the transformation from discount stores to gathering places of brand flagships.
01
High-end professional outdoor: First stores and flagship stores "cluster" into outlets
High-end professional outdoor brands are taking first stores and flagship stores as the starting point to accelerate their penetration into regional benchmark outlets.
The mont·bell Central China Outlet Flagship Store settled in Bailian Outlet Wuhan. Known as "Japan's outdoor Uniqlo", this brand is famous for its cost-effective functional outdoor apparel. The discounted prices of core categories such as jackets and quick-drying clothes further lower the threshold of outdoor consumption. Bailian Outlet Wuhan also renovated Li-Ning Central China Outlet Flagship Store and Saucony Central China's latest image store at the same time, forming a "matrix renovation of flagship stores".
ADIDAS Outlet First Launch Store + South China's first New Beat image store, Kaileshi Guangfo Outlet's first trail running store settled in Florentia Village Guangfo. The complementation of international first launch and professional segmentation has made high-level first stores of sports & outdoor brands an important chip to enhance the status and tonality of outlet projects.
Three outdoor brands, the century-old Swedish high-end outdoor brand HAGLÖFS, Austrian professional outdoor sports brand NORTHLAND and Swiss professional outdoor sports brand OZARK, settled in Phase II of Florentia Village Chongqing in the form of exclusive stores in Chongqing outlets. Together with the exclusive Biemlfdlkk Golf store, they form a vertical category combination of "outdoor + golf". Since the trial operation of Phase II started on August 13, the passenger flow of Florentia Village Chongqing has increased by 40% year on year, and sales volume has increased by 35% year on year.
02
Mass sports: Image flagship and "large store strategy" are carried out in parallel
The strategy of mass sports brands in outlets is getting clearer: image stores and flagship stores set benchmarks, and the large store strategy expands the scale.
The Biemlfdlkk Global Super Flagship Store settled in Tianmei Shanshan Outlet Taiyuan, presented with the highest-level store type worldwide, covering the full series of golf, outdoor and business casual products. FILA Jilin Outlet Image Store settled in Saishang (Middle East) Outlet Changchun, using a 1000-square-meter large store to display full categories of products.
Li-Ning Super Outlet's first store in Guizhou was renovated at Saishang (Guiyang) Outlet, which is the highest-level store type of Li-Ning in Guizhou's outlet channels. Xtep large store settled in Wangfujing Outlet Plain Town (Xinxiang), strengthening its terminal presence through the "large store" strategy.
Overall, whether high-end professional brands or mass sports brands, they have a good command of the essence of "atmosphere" when opening new stores in outlet channels: they emphasize scenario sense, keep the overall space simple and transparent, add rockery, green plants, looped broadcast of large outdoor images and other elements that fit the brand personality, allowing consumers to switch to a relaxed state immediately, shop slowly, extend their stay time and improve conversion rate.
03
Fashion Apparel:
Women's wear takes absolute lead, children's wear accelerates experience-oriented transformation
In August, 189 new fashion apparel stores were opened in outlets, accounting for 63% of all new stores across sectors, including 99 women's wear stores which take more than half of the track, 32 men's wear stores, 28 children's wear stores and 22 apparel collection stores.
01
Women's wear: 99 new stores, the most aggressive in store expansion
Women's wear remains the most aggressive category in outlet store expansion in a single month, with multi-store simultaneous opening, regional first stores, image store upgrading and sinking cluster development going hand in hand.
Leding opened three stores in this month: the first East China outlet image store at Saishang (Hefei) Outlet, the latest northwest image store at Saishang (Xi'an) Outlet, and the new store at Beijing Capital Outlets, rapidly expanding with the positioning of "girlish sense + high cost performance".
The famous French fashion brand ELLE set its exclusive Anhui outlet at Saishang (Hefei) Outlet, and also opened new stores at Shanshan Outlet Nanchang and Bailian Outlet Tangshan Nanjing. Original mid-to-high-end women's wear brand Shuiyunjian opened three stores in a row at Bailian Outlet Haina City Jinan, Bailian Outlet High-tech Zone Jinan (renovated) and Beijing Capital Outlets.
Mid-to-high-end minimalist apparel brand Mei Meng opened its first store in Tianjin at Shanshan Outlet Tianjin, presented at the level of "Tianjin's new image flagship store". Gen Z girlish fast fashion brand a blueberry located its first national outlet store at Shanshan Outlet Nanchang, and expanded its store at Shanshan Outlet Ganzhou at the same time. Well-known local designer brand JNBY Jilin Outlet Image Store settled in Saishang (Middle East) Outlet Changchun.
At the regional market level, Wangfujing City Outlet Jiaozuo introduced 5 women's wear brands at one go, namely City Wardrobe, Muhuaxiang, Kerou, Suer Mei and Jiali Zhixiu, which is a typical sample of "batch cluster of women's wear" in sinking markets.
02
Children's wear: Experience-oriented, collection-oriented and sports-oriented upgrading accelerates
The children's wear sector is accelerating its transformation to experience-oriented, collection-oriented and sports-oriented modes. Saishang (Jiangning Nanjing) Outlet opened 6 latest image stores of children's wear brands including Skechers Kids, Under Armour Kids, Puyusu, Lee Kids, Mami Maka and E·LAND KIDS in a concentrated manner, forming a "children's wear experience cluster"; DESCENTE KIDS settled in Beijing Badaling Outlet, attracting parent-child customers with high-end sports children's wear. Balabala located Hangzhou's first 8th-generation image store at Guangzhou Wanguo Outlet, and also settled in Shanshan Outlet Chengdu; Rookie Kids collection store entered Shengjing Grand Outlet Shenyang, tapping the incremental parent-child consumption with the "one-stop children's apparel collection" mode.
04
Lifestyle Services & Catering:
Supermarkets, e-sports venues and hot spring spas are all here
Experience boundaries continue to expand
Lifestyle services and catering sectors opened a total of 30 new stores in August, accounting for about 10%. Although the scale is not large, the sector boundary continues to expand: brands of non-traditional outlet formats such as Super Box NB Supermarket, JD Electronics, Shibu Hot Spring Spa, AI Smart KTV, Burger King Game Themed Store, Public Welfare Noodle House (Warm Heart Noodle House) are continuously pouring in, constantly enriching the consumption and social options of outlets as a "comprehensive experience venue".
