Pearl in Beijing’s retail crown struggles to regain shine against China’s economic tide
Hongqiao Market has long been the go-to place for foreign tourists, but it old clients have yet to come back
One of Beijing’s oldest wholesale markets that once hosted former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and American actor Nicolas Cage is struggling to restore its shine.
Located in the heart of Beijing, east of the Temple of Heaven, the 45-year-old Hongqiao Market has long established itself as a go-to place for foreign tourists, with pearl jewellery its signature product, but it has not been spared amid the ebb and flow of the economic tide.
While lacklustre domestic consumption and continuous shocks from e-commerce represent the most formidable challenges facing shopping centres in major Chinese cities, the slow recovery of inbound international travel following the coronavirus pandemic has added to the pain of the state-owned market and its 300-plus tenants.
“The development of Hongqiao Market is inseparable from the influence of the general situation, but we are also working hard to save ourselves despite the general situation,” said general manager Jin Wei, who has been working at the market for decades.
Before the pandemic, between 30,000-40,000 people passed through the mall on average per day, but that has dropped to around 10,000, with the per capita spending having also dropped, Jin added.
While local residents living nearby recalled old days when they shopped there for stationary or even fresh fish – it used to host one of Beijing’s biggest seafood markets in the basement before 2008, foreign residents and visitors had gradually become Hongqiao’s main source of customers, until the coronavirus pandemic hit.
