Why Is the Specialty Coffee Brand Seesaw Closing Stores?

Seesaw Coffee, a specialty coffee brand, lost about 50 stores nationwide between the end of last year and June this year, with closures reported in Hangzhou, Suzhou, and other cities. Only five stores remain in Hangzhou. Customer service gave no clear reason, saying only that there were some reasons.

At the same time, Seesaw is expanding into smaller cities such as Guiyang and Luoyang through franchising, where competition is lighter. The closures come amid a price war in the coffee market, and in at least one case a former Seesaw site in Suzhou was taken over by an arabica coffee store.

Seesaw Coffee, once regarded as one of the representatives of domestic specialty coffee, has seen a significant shrinkage in its number of stores within just half a year. From the end of last year to June this year, a total of 50 stores across the country quietly disappeared, with closure news coming one after another from places like Hangzhou and Suzhou, drawing attention from consumers and the industry. At the same time, Seesaw has not stopped its expansion pace, but instead turned its gaze toward smaller cities with relatively less competition, such as Guiyang and Luoyang, attempting to find a new way out through a franchise model. Against the backdrop of an increasingly fierce price war in the coffee market, this specialty coffee brand's adjustments and struggles reflect the survival pressure of the entire industry.

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Since media reports half a year ago revealed that stores in multiple locations were closing one after another, specialty coffee brand Seesaw Coffee (hereinafter referred to as "Seesaw") has once again been thrust into the spotlight recently, and the reason is still the sharp shrinkage in its number of stores.

Not long ago, a netizen asked on social media: "What on earth happened to Seesaw? Why did so many stores in Hangzhou close all of a sudden?" and posted a screenshot from a food delivery platform. The image showed that multiple Seesaw stores in the Hangzhou area were marked as closed for business.

Soon after, another local consumer in Hangzhou reported that the Seesaw store located in Olympic Sports Impression City suddenly ceased operations, and its information could no longer even be found on review websites. A check through Seesaw's official mini-program revealed that currently only 5 stores remain in operation across all of Hangzhou.

In response to the recent wave of store closures, a media reporter tried to contact Seesaw's official customer service to ask for the specific reason, but the other party only responded with "for some reasons" and did not give a clear explanation.

In fact, over the past few months, discussions about "Seesaw store closures" on social platforms have never stopped: "The Seesaw at Suzhou Center has closed! The original site has been taken over by Arabica," "The Seesaw coffee in Wujie has disappeared," "Seesaw, my happy hometown is gone," "Another coffee shop has been drunk out of business"... From the feedback of netizens, these closed or transferred stores almost all quietly ceased operations without any warning.

Since the end of last year, various signals have indicated that Seesaw's situation has already become quite difficult.

According to Zhaimen Catering data, Seesaw's store locations are mainly mall stores. As of December 4, 2023, the brand had a total of 135 stores nationwide, 70 of which were located in Shanghai, with the rest mainly distributed in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.

By June 10 this year, however, the number of "Seesaw Coffee" stores in operation had dropped to 85, covering 9 cities, with Shanghai still accounting for the largest share. In other words, within this half-year period, a total of 50 Seesaw stores nationwide quietly disappeared.

It is worth noting that despite continuous store closures, observant netizens have found that Seesaw's pace of opening stores has not completely stalled. It is just that the focus of expansion is no longer first-tier major cities, but has shifted to "small places" with relatively less competition, such as Guiyang, Luoyang, Cixi, Xuzhou, Yiwu, and Qingdao, and in these cities it has appeared as the brand's first store.

It is not difficult to see that Seesaw's new store layout this time is closely related to its previous strategy of opening franchises. The price war in the coffee market is becoming increasingly fierce, new brands are emerging one after another, and the survival pressure on all kinds of specialty coffee players is growing day by day. Survival of the fittest—for Seesaw, which has no obvious advantage in either price or category, making adjustments was only a matter of time.

Image source: internet screenshot

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.