3,000 cups sold per day, in-store turnover at scenic area stores surges 7 times: Beverage outlets saw explosive order spikes during the 2026 National Day holiday, are profitable stores no longer located in commercial districts?

Orders are exploding! One after another, major brands have released triumphant reports for the National Day holiday.

But this year's "triumphant reports" are somewhat "unusual".

01. Stores in commercial districts see steady growth, while scenic spot stores are raking in sales

The top performers in sales are not the commercial districts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but those low-profile stores hidden in scenic spots and lower-tier markets.

The Mixue Bingcheng Luoyang Xigong Small Street Store (Luoyang Flagship Store), which just opened on October 1, recorded revenue exceeding 1 million yuan on its first day; on October 3, the store's sales exceeded 1.2 million yuan. On social platforms, some people traveled to the store specially at 2:30 a.m. to grab the limited hidden items, while others dragged their suitcases to stock up on the Snow King peripherals. In the comment section, users shared "I went there on October 7 and spent 216 yuan", and cases of consumers spending over 100 yuan at a time are everywhere, making other netizens tease: "Didn't we agree to only buy 4-yuan lemonade?"

▲ Source: Mixue Bingcheng

In the same period, the queue in front of Mixue Bingcheng's Zhengzhou Head Store was as long as that of a "6A-level scenic spot", and the on-site popularity was comparable to that of Pang Donglai in Xuchang.

Also in Henan, the Tianlala store at Wansu Mountain Wuxia City in Kaifeng was completely surrounded by tourists. Public data from the brand shows that scenic spot stores in lower-tier cities, including the Kaifeng Wansu Mountain Wuxia City store in Henan, Liaoning Chaoyang Bird Fossil National Geopark, Jilin Zhuque Mountain National Forest Park, Shanxi Pingyao Ancient City, and Hebei Luanzhou Ancient City, all saw a total order explosion, with week-on-week performance growth exceeding 669%.

▲ Source: Tianlala

Chabaidao also ushered in a huge wave of traffic brought by "hidden treasure small towns". Public reports show that the holiday sales of Chabaidao's scenic spot stores are nearly 3 times that of usual days. In addition to full customer flow in stores at traditional scenic spots such as Kuanzhai Alley and Jiuzhaigou, non-first-tier cities including Dezhou in Shandong, Diqing in Yunnan, and Jiayuguan in Gansu directly ranked into the top 10 of Chabaidao's National Day store sales growth list.

▲ Source: Chabaidao official WeChat account

In Pingnan, Guangxi, Liao, a franchisee of Chabaidao, extended his business hours to early morning. His reason is very simple: "Pairing milk tea with late-night snacks at the night market, operating a few more hours can sell hundreds more cups".

Nayuki, which focuses on high-tier markets, also showed obvious scenic spot attributes in its performance. Stores such as the Bay Area Eye Store in Bao'an, Shenzhen, and the Zhongda Store in High-tech Zone, Xi'an, saw daily sales surge to nearly 9 times that of usual days. Some popular stores exceeded 3000 cups of drinks served in a single day, the Xiaoshan Airport Store in Hangzhou ranked top 3 nationwide in single-day sales, and the Bicester Village Suzhou Store directly topped the national list... The overworked staff couldn't help but sigh: The number of pending orders on the ordering mini-program has always stayed at 200 to 300 cups, "there are so many tourists dragging suitcases to pick up their orders".

▲ Source: Nayuki's Tea

The customer flow from scenic spots has become the "traffic pool" for these stores to explode in orders, and this traffic pool itself is also changing quietly.

First, the population is flowing to small towns. According to the calculation of the Ministry of Transport, the cross-regional population flow across the country reached 2.144 billion person-times this National Day. Data from Mafengwo shows that the search volume for "county tourism" surged 238% month-on-month. Topics such as "hidden treasure small towns" and "small towns take all top 10 spots in National Day scenic spot popularity list" have aroused widespread public attention.

▲ Source: Weibo topic

Second, the consumption power of small town scenic spots has been re-evaluated. The customer unit price of Mixue Bingcheng's Luoyang flagship store often exceeds 100 yuan, and second- and third-tier cities are no longer only welcoming "low-budget travel" consumption. Data from Meituan shows that in the first half of 2026, the off-site consumption in counties across the country increased by 14.1% year on year. The customer flow not only brings sales, but also opportunities for high customer unit price and cultural and creative product revenue.

▲ Source: Netizen comments

02. Regional limited editions are stealing the spotlight from national best-selling products

When arriving in Chongqing, have a cup of Chongqing limited drink first; when arriving in Hubei, check in the Hubei special drink first. "Regional limited edition" has also become the key word for order explosion this National Day.

On September 30, Bawangchaji launched 19 series of regional limited products at one go, with more than 40 new products launched in total, which are deeply bound to local characteristics from tea base to peripheral products.

▲ Source: Bawangchaji

Judging from the holiday performance, the sales of these regional limited series once accounted for nearly 40% in some stores. Some consumers shared on social platforms: "I took the high-speed rail to Chongqing specially just to drink this limited drink."

Nayuki chooses to use IP co-branding to create a reason that "you have to come in person".

On September 23, Nayuki launched the co-branding event with Arknights: Endfield, 140 theme stores across the country were transformed into "real-life Endfield supply stations". On the first day of launch, the number of pending orders in many stores instantly exceeded 500 cups, the ordering mini-program was once crushed by huge traffic, and the limited peripherals were sold out immediately after launch. The store manager of a theme store in Shenzhen described: "We changed a roll of receipt paper for the printer after another nonstop."

▲ Source: Nayuki's Tea

The popularity brought by the pre-holiday co-branding continued into the National Day holiday, the customer flow of Nayuki's stores across the country doubled, the limited peripherals became popular "dimension social tokens" in the ACG circle, many players made repeated purchases many times to collect all the full set of materials.

Tianlala turned "checking in a city" into a travel social currency.

From October 1 to 7, Tianlala launched city limited fridge magnets and landscape postcards in 8 provinces and cities in northern China. Customers who buy the "Travel with Taro" double-cup set will get a limited fridge magnet for free, and the back of the postcard can be written on to become a travel journal. Since the launch of the Extra Thick Taro series on September 24, the sales volume in the first week exceeded 1.5 million cups, and the "Extra Thick Taro Grand Slam" in the form of bucket sharing package accurately targeted the holiday gathering scenarios.

▲ Source: Netizen sharing

Bawangchaji allows consumers to "drink wherever they go" with regional limited editions, Nayuki uses IP co-branding to make players queue up across cities and crash the mini-program, Tianlala turns drinking tea into a travel journal with fridge magnets and postcards. Consumers are not just buying drinks, but also the sense of participation of "I have been to this city". Consumers are willing to pay for a product that "can only be drunk right here", this "regional exclusive sense" is becoming an incremental weapon in the holiday consumption of the beverage industry.

03. Bottled beverages are selling hot, Heytea and other brands are collectively targeting the business market outside physical stores

The "good business" of ready-made beverages during holidays extends from physical stores to "retail shelves".

Heytea launched "Southern Ginger Guava Preserved Fruit" in its tea workshop stores, which is called by netizens "the snack that saves the 3-hour high-speed rail trip". In terms of beverages, Heytea follows the logic of "whatever sells best in stores will be put on retail shelves", the bottled "Kale Cucumber" and "Salty Cheese Dark Tea" became popular from physical stores to retail shelves. During the holiday, the popularity in physical stores naturally extended to a wider range of scenarios.

▲ Source: Heytea official WeChat account

Guming's bottled fruit juice has also gone out of physical stores. Since October 2025, Guming has started selling HPP bottled fruit juice in some regional stores. At the end of June 2026, Guming officially launched HPP apple juice and HPP seven-fold fruit and vegetable juice to retail channels outside physical stores, covering cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Wenling and Hangzhou for the first time, and entering retail terminals such as Liangao Daren, Yonghui Supermarket and Shizu convenience store. During the National Day holiday, these bottled fruit juices placed in the cold cabinets of supermarkets and convenience stores allow consumers to buy a cup of Guming at any time at scenic spots or on the road.