ParknShop To Close Outlet In Shanghai

After being open for two-years ParknShop's Shanghai Guohe store will be closed at the end of 2008 for financial reasons.

The ParknShop Guohe store is the first large comprehensive supermarket to close in Shanghai since the start of the global financial crisis.

ParknShop entered the Shanghai market in 1994. After that, the Hong Kong-headquartered retailer twice withdrew from Shanghai, in 2000 and in 2006 It later returned to the city and registered a wholly foreign-owned company Shanghai ParknShop Supermarket Co., Ltd. in Yangpu District with a registered capital of HKD40 million. The ParknShop Guohe store, which was opened at the end of 2006, is the retailer's first outlet as well as the first flagship store to open in Shanghai after its return.

However, the performance of this Guohe store is far from good. According to a food supplier for the Guohe store, they had received a formal notice from Shanghai ParknShop Supermarket, which said that the ParknShop Guohe store would suspend operations from the end of 2008 while its Meilongzhen store would maintain normal operations. At the same time, ParknShop will open a new mart in Shanghai's Gubei area in September 2009 and the company hopes to gain the support of its suppliers for the new store.

The notice also said the ParknShop Guohe store would settle its outstanding payables with suppliers before the end of 2008.