The slow recovery in China marked by a crisis in domestic demand. Illustration of this consumption which is not restarting: the closing of certain stores in town, including the signs of the former French Carrefour, bought in 2019.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stephane Lagarde
“ Carrefour, it’s over and it’s like that in all of Beijing “Says this shopkeeper from this shopping center in the Korean district of the Chinese capital. Palisades closing the entrances, treadmill stopped and concert of drills … the French brand, once a symbol of foreign settlements in China and bought just before the pandemic by a Chinese distributor of electronic products, will not have resisted two consecutive tsunamis : explosion of e-commerce and Covid.
Most of the employees have been laid off. Some have found work, like the salesman at a toy counter who fires a dart gun at the panel of the stand opposite. ” Carrefour closed at the start of the year and it’s not just Carrefour, many businesses have left the mall. »
Businesses that have gone out of business, others that are living off… Many shopping centers in Beijing are struggling to attract new tenants. “ Before the Covid, it was going pretty well, says a restaurateur in the basement near the cinema. At the time, we were a chain. We had five restaurants. Today there is only that one left and we don’t have many customers. »
“ I am ready to continue my task “, says this robot cleaner, often alone this summer in the corridors of these office towers and shops in the north of Beijing. One of the rental agents explains: Oooh, you know until 2018 it was different: all the shops were rented, the same thing for restaurants and offices. We can accommodate up to 60,000 workers here in normal times. Today these three buildings are 70% occupied. »
30 and even 40% of vacant premises, a neighborhood trader tells us, despite a drop of more than half in rental prices. The consumer price index fell by 0.3% in July in China, which, together with the drop in domestic demand, is a sign of deflation.