Shenzhen and Guangzhou both opened their first downtown duty-free shops on Tuesday, multiple outlets report. Shopping at either is limited to those scheduled to depart China within 60 days.
The Shenzhen store, located in the Upper Hills mall, spans nearly 3,000 square metres and is the largest in-city duty-free outlet in the mainland to date, offering everything from beauty products and premium liquor to high-tech gadgets. In a nod to Shenzhen’s role as China’s tech hub, the shop spotlights homegrown brands such as Huawei, Honor, Insta360, Ubtech and iFlytek.
Guangzhou’s new downtown duty-free store is meanwhile located in Tianhe District. It features international luxury goods alongside domestic brands.
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Both openings come under new regulations introduced last October, authorising eight cities to each host one in-city duty-free store. Besides Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the cities are Changsha, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Xi’an. Other cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, are allowed to repurpose existing foreign-exchange commodity duty-free stores into downtown duty-free stores.
The aim is to regulate the sector and channel some of the spending by Chinese tourists – often done abroad – back into the domestic economy.
Shenzhen’s store was developed by China Duty Free Group, Shenzhen Duty Free Group and Shum Yip Group, while Guangzhou’s is a joint venture between China Duty Free Group, Lingnan Group’s local subsidiaries Guangzhou Grandbuy and Guangzhou Lingnan Group Holdings, and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
