"High quality and good price, good savings, good savings..." The slogans were constantly played in the supermarket, but in the huge fresh food area, only empty freezers were left.

The famous Zhongguancun store of Carrefour supermarket is facing renovation and upgrading.

  The reporter visited and found that many large supermarkets in Beijing have closed or transformed in recent years.

Those big supermarkets that closed have their own reasons; those big supermarkets that are still alive and well have found a way to survive.

  Retrofit

  Eighteen years of the rise and fall of a flagship store

  Going underground from the entrance of Zhongguancun Square, you will be greeted with slogans with farewell colors - "Looking forward to meeting you in the future" and "Thank you for your company for 18 years".

It looks like Zhongguancun Plaza will undergo a complete makeover.

  On March 17, 2004, Carrefour Zhongguancun store opened in Zhongguancun Plaza.

There were two key words in the news headlines at that time-flagship store and the largest in Asia.

Along with this large supermarket, there are also many shops, which are densely distributed on the only road leading to the entrance of the supermarket.

Large supermarkets brought business agglomeration, which was a widely recognized business model at that time.

  "It was very popular until 2017, and then it's gone." Because of Carrefour's popularity, a store owner moved the store to Zhongguancun Plaza, but now there is a "sale" sign in the store, "I don't either. No one told us what was going to be changed here."

  "There are fewer and fewer people." A clothing store owner was sorting out the trousers for clearance. "It has been increasing these two days, and they all come to clean up the goods."

  Walking into the supermarket, the atmosphere of scavenging goods is even stronger.

50% off bedding, and several rows of shelves are empty.

"Tell us that it will be cleared by the end of March, and the others don't know." The staff said that they would transfer to other Carrefour stores.

On the fresh product floor, there are more empty shelves and freezers.

There is not a single piece of cold meat left, only the empty counter is left.

  "This flagship store was opened the year I graduated from college. It was known as the largest in Asia at the time, but I didn't expect it to close now." Da Liu, who was pushing the shopping cart, was very emotional. He recalled that when the supermarket first opened, Zhongguancun and now are completely different Different, there was still a lot of life atmosphere at that time, and the nearby community was not blocked by high-rise buildings.

He still remembered that he rented a house with a few classmates and lived near Haidian Book City, and went shopping at Carrefour on weekends.

At that time, the commercial form of Zhongguancun was very simple, dominated by the computer city. The emergence of Carrefour greatly changed the lives of nearby residents.

  "To be honest, I myself haven't come to Carrefour very often in recent years. There is a vegetable station near the community, and online shopping is so convenient." Compared with 18 years ago, shopping habits have already changed.

  There are only a few people at the checkout in the supermarket, and more than a decade ago, the most evaluation of this supermarket was that the checkout line was too long.

Going out from the supermarket, you can pass a food street. From noon to noon, people working in Zhongguancun crowd the whole street.

For them, a food court is far more valuable than a big supermarket.

Walking out of the food street, Zhongguancun is full of high-rise buildings. Carrefour, which was once the largest in Asia, has been submerged in the urban forest rising from the ground long before it was adjusted.

  research

  Beijing's big supermarket has a tough time

  The Carrefour Zhongguancun store is not the first large supermarket to be remodeled in recent years.

The urban and rural Century Plaza outside the fifth ring road in the southeast of Beijing has always had a small passenger flow. The introduction of Hema Xiansheng in 2018 is considered to be a booster.

But the good times don’t last long. The Hema Xiansheng here will be closed at the end of April 2021, only 3 years after its opening.

  The supermarket was originally located on the basement level of the Urban and Rural Century Plaza. Although all the propaganda symbols have been erased, the original imprint can still be vaguely seen.

"I remember it was circulated on the Internet at the time that there was a place with Hema, called the 'Heji Room'. Indeed, at first I thought it was very high-end, the seafood was very fresh, and it could be processed on the spot." Xiao Qian eats fast food on the basement floor, he said here When Hema first opened, customers would line up in the catering processing area during the holidays.

The high passenger flow also attracts other businesses.

  Outside the now closed supermarket entrances and exits, there are many shops densely distributed. Judging from the signs, there are milk tea, cooked food, snacks and so on.

But as Hema closed, these stores also left one by one.

Those who persisted, the door could be stunned.

"The withdrawal of the supermarket will definitely have an impact on customer flow. Now it mainly relies on take-out. There are a little more people on weekends." The waiter of a noodle restaurant is welcoming customers. This store is just opposite the checkout of the supermarket. It used to be the most densely populated. area.

  On June 18, 2021, more than a month after the closure of the Hema Xiansheng store in Urban and Rural Century Plaza, Beijing’s first Hema X membership store opened at the World Flower Holiday Plaza outside the Southeast Fourth Ring Road.

Although it has advanced into the city, the Flower of the World is very similar to the Urban and Rural Century Plaza, and it is also a shopping mall with a relatively average passenger flow.

The Hema X membership store, which is the benchmark for Walmart’s Sam store, can only be accessed by consumers with a membership card.

It looks upscale from the outside, and there is even a pet shop specially prepared for members.

The clerk at the door verifies the membership status of each customer one by one. She emphasizes that after registering for membership, you can get multiple preferential services.

  According to the research report released by Winshang.com in February 2022, in the past year, large supermarkets have generally had a hard time, and the transformation to membership systems, small stores, and boutique supermarkets has become a common trend.

  According to the statistics of Winshang.com, only 2 of the 13 listed supermarket companies have increased their net profit and revenue, and 11 of them have a net profit decline. In the second half of the year, the decline has not been reversed, and the annual performance is not optimistic.

Only the monitored 13 supermarket companies closed more than 100 stores throughout the year, of which, Renrenle, Wal-Mart, and Carrefour closed more than 90 stores.

In 2021, Carrefour will close more than 20 stores, and Walmart will close more than 30 hypermarkets.

  Membership is an important transformation path for supermarket companies to choose. In 2021, there will be as many as 12 member-based supermarket brands in China.

"Old" membership supermarkets, such as Wal-Mart Sam's, Metro, etc., have accelerated their opening of stores.

"New" membership supermarkets, such as Yonghui, Carrefour, etc., also joined the ranks of spoilers.

  transformation

  Old supermarkets take root in the community to find new opportunities

  On Sanlihe East Road, among many old communities, there is a Wumart supermarket that has also been in business for 18 years. It has successfully completed the transformation in the past two years. Its sales have ranked among the top 20 of all Wumart stores in Beijing.

  Every morning, it is crowded with middle-aged and elderly people buying fresh items.

"Our hardware conditions are quite limited here. There is no way to park at the door. The customers who come are almost middle-aged and elderly people who live in the surrounding area. They come on foot, by bike or by bus." Yang Haiqi, the manager of this Wumart store, said that the transformation The purpose is to capture these customers.

The supermarket has expanded its capacity in the fresh area, adding categories of vegetables, meat, aquatic products, and fruits. There are both vegetable market-style bulk dishes and high-end supermarket-style packaged dishes.

There are also a lot of fresh vegetables and fresh meat that are often updated daily in some high-end supermarkets.

  In view of the characteristics of the elderly in the surrounding area, this Wumart has strengthened the Beijing time-honored brand counters such as Tianfuhao and Liubiju, and gathered them together for the convenience of the elderly.

Not only to maintain the old tradition, but also to make new breakthroughs. The supermarket cooperates with multi-point APP to achieve door-to-door delivery within half an hour in the area.

In the cash register, there are not only cash counters, but also a variety of smart devices, some of which can be automatically identified and weighed, and some can be self-checkout.

In order to strengthen the connection between the supermarket and community life, it is also equipped with services such as a 10-yuan quick haircut, which attracts many customers every day.

  "With the rapid development of e-commerce, the advantages of traditional hypermarkets with complete categories have disappeared. Hypermarkets need a huge area to cover about 20,000 kinds of products. And what about e-commerce? Millions of products are available to choose from. .” Lai Yang, executive vice president of the Beijing Business Economics Association, has long predicted that supermarkets and hypermarkets are struggling, and the epidemic has exacerbated this situation. “Transforming to community life services is the only way for almost every supermarket store.”

  Lai Yang is not optimistic about the transformation of many supermarkets to membership systems.

"Everyone has only seen the growth in performance, and thinks that the membership system makes money. But in fact, the success of the membership store is not because it is a membership system, but its supply chain." Lai Yang, for example, Sam's store only sells selected three or four Thousands of commodities, which are sourced locally from Walmart's stores around the world, have long formed a mature supply chain.

"Our domestic membership supermarkets have to do global procurement. Do they have an advantage in the supply chain? The way out for supermarkets in the future should still be service providers of community lifestyles."