Recently, MUJI has triggered a "store closure wave" in the Chinese market, with stores in Shanghai, Suzhou, Yantai, Changsha and other cities successively announcing closures. According to incomplete statistics, the brand has also gradually withdrawn from multiple commercial locations in Jinan, Wuhan and other cities since the beginning of this year.

Among them, the Muji World Trade Gongti store has also been affected by this "closure wave." Social media users reported that the store will cease operations on August 31st. A field visit revealed that the store has launched clearance activities: seasonal products are generally offered at 60-80% discounts, with multiple special price zones set up throughout the store.

A store employee confirmed the news of closure at the end of August. Regarding the reason for closure, the employee stated, "Initially this location was quite profitable, but later it became less profitable. Plus with a new store opening in Sanlitun nearby, the two stores were too close to each other and affected each other's business, so the company decided to close ours."

In response to these reports, MUJI's official representative stated, "Individual store closures are just normal adjustments based on operational efficiency. Facing challenges of declining foot traffic in some commercial districts, MUJI will make trade-offs regarding poorly performing stores. MUJI China currently maintains opening around 40 stores annually, and since March 1st, MUJI has opened 15 new stores."

**Multiple Nationwide Stores Announce Closures, Final Clearance Sales Underway**

Recently, MUJI has set off a "store closure wave" in the Chinese market.

According to user reports and media coverage, multiple MUJI stores including Shanghai Pujiang Huanlesong store, Sanlitun World Trade Gongti store, Suzhou Taihua store, Yantai Zhenhua Department Store, and Changsha Pofu International Plaza have successively announced closures. Since the beginning of this year, MUJI has also withdrawn from Jinan, Wuhan and other cities, with some stores having operated for nearly a decade.

A field visit to the MUJI World Trade Gongti store shows "closure notice" posted at the storefront. The notice states, "We regret to inform everyone that MUJI World Trade Gongti store will be closing. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We still have 34 stores in this city and sincerely invite you to visit and shop."

On a weekday morning, foot traffic inside the store was sparse, with only a few customers browsing products. The store has fully launched clearance activities, with prominent "closure special offer" signs visible everywhere. Most products are sold at 60-80% discounts, with some items featuring "discount on discount" promotions, offering additional 10%-20% off when purchasing 2 or more items.

The store has set up multiple special price zones with prominent labels like "Special Items 100-200 yuan" and "Special Items 200-300 yuan." However, investigation revealed this clearance sale has hidden aspects - the brand's most representative items like hemp four-piece sets and soft cushions are not participating in the closure special offers.

Some shelves have been completely emptied, while remaining stocked areas appear scattered, with the store permeated by an atmosphere of farewell. In the clearance section, a shopping customer commented: "The prices are indeed very reasonable, I even notified friends to come browse after work, but the items I wanted aren't discounted, and many products are already out of stock." With some time remaining before official closure, store staff indicated, "We've already cleared out all our food inventory."

**Official Response: Normal Adjustments Based on Operational Efficiency**

In recent years, MUJI has encountered a reputation "Waterloo" in the Chinese market.

Once upon a time, MUJI, which emphasized design aesthetics and minimalism, was beloved by countless middle-class consumers, even representing a minimalist lifestyle attitude. However, in recent years in the Chinese market, MUJI's development has appeared somewhat difficult, with multiple reports of store closures and price reductions. Topics about "why people no longer buy MUJI products" have repeatedly trending on social media.

This brand that positions itself as "good products" has also frequently encountered quality issues. On complaint platforms, searching for "MUJI" yields over 2,300 complaints, with "product quality," "after-sales attitude," and "service experience" becoming major complaint categories.

Regarding closure reasons, a World Trade Gongti store employee stated, "Actually, this location was quite profitable initially, but later became less profitable. Plus with a new store opening in Sanlitun nearby, the two stores were too close and affected each other, so the company decided to close ours."

Regarding employee arrangements after closure, the employee expressed uncertainty: "No compensation discussions yet. We might be transferred to other stores, but not necessarily to that new Sanlitun location." When discussing future work arrangements, her tone revealed some confusion and helplessness.

"We're currently closing stores while opening stores," the employee succinctly summarized MUJI's current strategic adjustment status. MUJI's "close old, open new" performance in the Sanlitun commercial district isn't isolated, but represents the beginning of the brand's overall strategic layout changes - quietly closing underperforming stores while investing heavily in larger flagship stores in core commercial districts.

Regarding this, MUJI's official representative stated, "Individual store closures are just normal adjustments based on operational efficiency. Facing challenges of declining foot traffic in some commercial districts, MUJI will make trade-offs regarding poorly performing stores."

"MUJI China currently maintains opening around 40 stores annually. MUJI hopes to continue opening flagship stores to provide comprehensive lifestyle experiences. Since March 1st, MUJI has opened 15 new stores," the official representative said.

**Alternative Brand Siege, Premium Pricing Space Significantly Compressed**

China is MUJI's largest overseas market and second-largest revenue pillar after Japan. According to reports, as of August 2024, MUJI has over 400 stores domestically.

To compete for the Chinese market, MUJI has previously launched initiatives including price reductions, co-branded products, pet supplies, and instant retail services. In 2023, it opened the world's first farm concept store in Shanghai; in 2024, it opened a flagship store in Beijing offering the most complete product range since entering China as part of localization exploration; in 2025, to address Chinese market challenges, it adopted the aforementioned "close old, open new" and other response measures.

From financial reports, MUJI's proactive changes have achieved certain results. According to parent company Ryohin Keikaku's financial reports, in the nine months ending May 31, 2025, sales increased 19.2% year-on-year to 591.09 billion yen (approximately 28.711 billion yuan), with net profit attributable to parent company increasing 30.1% year-on-year to 43.59 billion yen (approximately 2.117 billion yuan).

MUJI China's Chief Marketing Officer Wu Shu recently stated in an interview, "Since September 2024, mainland China has achieved 9 consecutive months of year-on-year growth," and mentioned, "Currently, outside Japan, MUJI only has a complete supply chain from development to production in the Chinese market."

Consulting partner Li Yingtao identified three main reasons for MUJI's large-scale store closures:

First, serious mismatch between rent and foot traffic. Some MUJI stores entered core commercial districts in first-tier cities early on, facing significant rent increases upon lease renewal while actual foot traffic cannot support costs. Meanwhile, changes in urban commercial patterns have caused traditional commercial districts to lose foot traffic to emerging areas, ultimately leading to deterioration of single-store profit models.

Second, oversaturated store network. During the brand's expansion peak in China, it had over 400 stores, with some regions having overly dense layouts. This "internal competition" among stores in the same area directly led to dispersed foot traffic per store and continuous decline in same-store sales, making single-store profit models unsustainable.

Third, siege by online and offline alternative brands. Offline, domestic brands represented by Miniso and Xiaomi stores have directly eroded MUJI's offline market share with lower prices and faster product iteration. Online, the rise of e-commerce brands like NetEase Yanxuan has further diverted core customers. Additionally, the rise of white-label merchants on major e-commerce platforms, leveraging domestic supply chain advantages, has completely deconstructed MUJI's traditional "design + quality" advantages with extreme cost-effectiveness, significantly compressing MUJI's product premium pricing space.

Regarding MUJI's strategic adjustments in China this year, Li Yingtao analyzed, "Financially, it's essentially about reducing financial burden by closing inefficient stores and concentrating resources on high-efficiency flagship stores, shifting from scale expansion to profit priority. From a longer-term perspective, it's implementing localization reforms to gain strategic adjustment space, reducing loss burdens while investing budgets in localization product development, supply chain cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and other major directional adjustments."