24小时便利店在京生存艰难

A Wumart convenience store on Zhongguancun Street in Beijing is very popular with passersby, because it provides 24-hour service and warm steamed stuffed buns and boiled sweet corn late into the night. The shopkeeper says the warm, instant food draws many white-collar workers who stay late at the office.

"People want to eat some warm food at night in winter. The sales volume during the night constitutes a third of the entire day's sales."

But if you don't live near busy streets, you may not have such a convenience. Beijing residents find it difficult to shop at late night and complain that they have to walk far to find a convenience store that stays open late.

Cao Yuanxiao, Deputy General Manager of Hi-24 Convenience Stores, explains why most convenience stores are unwilling to open in some communities.

"The operational costs of 24-hour convenience stores are very high, including water and electricity fees and labor costs. Therefore, we would not choose a place which is not commercially thriving and populous."

Lu Jiehua, a sociology professor at Peking University, says the government should support community convenience stores, because they provide basic public services.

"The municipal government should map out a convenience store network so that the stores are evenly distributed every three to five kilometers. Besides, when we design a community layout, we can leave some room ahead of the time for convenience stores."

Lu says his research indicates that the many convenience stores in Shanghai have been very successful. You can easily find a domestic or foreign branded one on foot within several minutes. He says convenience stores in Beijing can also learn from the experience of 24-hour convenience stores in foreign countries, which often provide other services such as laundry, document typing and duplication, delivery arrangements, and the distribution of tourist discount vouchers.

The Beijing municipal government's 12th Five-Year Plan says local officials will urge convenience store chains to set up shop in local communities in the next few years. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce is promoting branded chain stores to open in local communities and encouraging them to provide more resident-friendly services.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Wan.