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Suzhou issues policies to boost its first-store economy

Suzhou Bureau of Commerce | Updated:2021-11-16 13:43


People enjoy shopping in Suzhou. [Photo/kan0512.com]

The Suzhou Bureau of Commerce issued a raft of policies recently to attract more first stores – the debut stores of major brands or retail chains – to open up in the city of Suzhou, situated in East China's Jiangsu province.

The so-called first-store economy refers to the opening of a first store of an industry's representative brand, or the first store of a fashionable new brand, in an area.

Shanghai-based Neobio, a high-end parent to child entertainment platform provider, set up its first store – a parent-child amusement center – in Suzhou at the end of September and has attracted more than 30,000 customers to date.

Customers from Shanghai and Jiangsu's Wuxi and Changzhou and other neighboring cities are also known to come to Suzhou to experience the parent-child amusement center. The performance of Neobio's Suzhou outlet is considered to be among the best of the 13 Neobio stores, said Zou Jun, the manager of the Neobio parent-child amusement center in the city.

Elsewhere, Suzhou Bicester Village – located in the Yangcheng Lake Peninsula Tourist Resort – has been in Suzhou for more than seven years. It has 200 stores of various brands, including 39 first stores in the city.

Plans are for Suzhou to get well-known brands at home and abroad to set up shop in the city. On the other hand, it also wants to encourage local manufacturers to open flagship stores in Suzhou, said Zhou Qing, an official from the China (Suzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone.