Amid Covid-19 Chinese retailers begin to re-open stores

Ikea, Lululemon, Uniqlo, and other international stores have begun to re-open in China with adjusted hours, as Covid-19 cases decrease.

As such, international retailers, including Muji, the Galeries Lafayette, and Lululemon are gradually resuming their Chinese brick-and-mortar operations as coronavirus decline on the mainland, Asia Times announced. Cities such as Shanghai have had days without any new Covid-19 additions, although clusters of new infections have started popping up abroad, particularly in Italy, South Korea, and Iran.

Ikea announced it would resume operations in three Shanghai stores, as well as in Hangzhou and Wuxi on 1 March, but doors are to be closed at 6 p.m.. Starting 2 March, shoppers can visit its fourth Shanghai store in Xuhui, but cafeterias and children’s playgrounds remain closed. 

Moreover, by 26 February, Uniqlo had re-opened 80% of its 750 mainland outlets, nearly half of which were closed at a point due to the virus. 70 Muji stores, representing 20% of the mainland’s total, remained closed, down from over 150 locations. French department store Galeries Lafayette’s two mainland outlets in Beijing and Shanghai resumed operations but with narrowed opening hours. Lululemon has re-opened some of its sportswear stores in more than 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xiamen, and Suzhou. Apple has re-opened 29 of its 42 retail locations in China.