What Does the Heytea Dalian Closure Mean for Coffee Brands in Dali?

Heytea's first Dalian store at Roosevelt Plaza has closed, and the site is being taken over by other brands. The closure is part of a larger contraction: Heytea shut 161 stores in 90 days, reducing its total from 4,410 to 4,265, or about two stores per day. The Dalian store opened in May 2020 and was the city's first directly operated Heytea.

The closures include both franchise and directly operated locations, with reasons ranging from lease expirations to rising rents. No official explanation has been given for the Dalian closure. For coffee brands Dali and other regional markets, the pullback highlights how larger chains are reassessing store networks, and how coffee update cycles can shift consumer habits and local competition.

Recently, the Heytea store at Dalian Roosevelt Plaza was reported to have ceased operations, and the site was quickly taken over by hoarding for other brands. This store, which opened in May 2020 and once sparked long queues, was Dalian's first directly operated store, and its sudden withdrawal surprised many consumers. According to Jihai brand monitoring data, although Heytea opened new stores in the past 90 days, it also closed 161 stores, with the total number in operation dropping from 4,410 to 4,265, equivalent to about 2 stores disappearing every day. The closures were not limited to franchise stores; some directly operated stores that had been running for years also exited due to factors such as rent and contracts, and the impact of this round of adjustment on the brand's future remains to be seen.

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Recently, some Dalian residents noticed that the Heytea store in Roosevelt Plaza had stopped operating, and the original space had been replaced by construction hoarding for Chagee and Chow Tai Seng, with renovation work underway on site.

The sudden closure of this store left many local loyal customers incredulous. In their memory, the Roosevelt Plaza store was the first directly operated Heytea store in Dalian. On its opening day on May 30, 2020, with new-store promotions and buy-one-get-one-free offers, the scene was quite lively, with people streaming in to check in and queues stretching from the bar all the way to outside the mall entrance.

During the years the store was in operation, nearby residents said that even on weekdays there was no shortage of foot traffic, and on holidays it was even more packed, with business remaining brisk for a long time. No one expected that five years later, this landmark store in Roosevelt Plaza would quietly shut down, withdrawing only to be taken over immediately by a peer, leaving fans deeply rueful: "Every time I went there were so many people—it was my high school memory," and "I still remember how spectacular the opening was back then."

As for the reason for the closure, most people speculated that the brand may have chosen not to renew after the lease expired, or that rising operating costs such as store rent prompted the withdrawal, but these claims are all speculation from netizens, and the official side has not yet given a clear response.

While lamenting this, consumers following Heytea's updates discovered that the stores recently closed by the official side were far more than just the first Dalian store. The Zibo Wangfujing store, Nanchang Wanshou Palace store, and Shenzhen MixC World store had also quietly ceased operations, and some of these stores were actually not performing poorly.

Local consumers reported that these stores generally gave no advance notice before closing, and often people only realized the stores had shut down when they could no longer find the store information in the mini-program or when they passed by and saw the sign had been removed, leaving regular customers who wanted a cup quite surprised.

Data from Jihai brand monitoring shows that although Heytea opened new stores in the past 90 days, it closed 161 stores during the same period. Compared with mid-March, the total number of stores in operation fell from 4,410 to the current 4,265, meaning that in just two months, an average of 2 Heytea stores quietly disappeared from some corner of some city every day.

The rapid decrease in the number of stores sparked widespread discussion among netizens. They pointed out that since Heytea announced the suspension of its franchise business, the brand has begun to shrink its store scale, and some franchise stores in various places had their doors locked without warning, with no relevant information found in the mini-program either.

Seeing tea beverage stores that had accompanied them for years suddenly exit, some people, while feeling regretful, also believed this might not necessarily be a bad thing for the brand. For a long time, the management of franchise stores was mainly handled by franchisees themselves rather than directly by the official side, so lapses in store management were inevitable, and customer complaints about unstable quality control at franchise stores occurred from time to time. Some fans even compiled guides online to distinguish the two types of stores, recommending that consumers give priority to directly operated stores with more reliable quality control.

Therefore, many judged that the brand's closure of some franchise stores with unstable quality control may be intended to maintain consistency in product standards while also making it easier for the official side to manage stores.

However, some also pointed out that the brand's adjustment of its store layout was not aimed only at franchise stores. Some directly operated stores that had been in business for years also suddenly closed or reduced their scale due to reasons such as rising rent and contract expiration. They believed that this round of the official "store closure wave" was like the tide washing away the sand, removing stores unfavorable to future development. It remains to be seen, however, what impact this drastic change will ultimately have on the brand.

Image source: online screenshot

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