A Notice to Bargain Hunters: Wantong Market to Permanently Close Next Week

It seems Beijing has been testing our bottom line for the love of this city. In a push to move chaotic wholesale markets to the suburbs and onto the Internet, authorities have taken steps to shut down Alien Street at Chaoyangmen, the 25-year-old Tianyi Market at Fuchengmen, and Beijing Zoo Market. With the intention of shrinking its population by 15 percent and getting rid of all wholesale markets within the Fourth Ring Road by 2020, according to Wall Street Journal, authorities are quickening their pace.

Next week will be the last week of operations at Wantong Market at 2 Fuchengmenwai Dajie in Xicheng District. On June 24, Wantong Market announced that it will officially close its doors on August 31 at 10pm. A well-known and well-stocked market less popular than Silk Market, Wantong Market has been running for 18 years, and always offers fairer prices from more relaxed vendors. The market is home to over 1,600 shops, many of them commencing their clearance sales as far back as late June. 

The market stopped collecting counter fees from its tenants and began vacating the building in June. As Renmin reported, “there are eight big markets in Xicheng District, Wanrong Market will be closed tomorrow (June 27), Shiji Tianle, Dongding, Tianhe Baima, and Zhonghe will be closed by the end of this year. Tianyi and Guanyuan will be vacated slowly, but the sudden closure of Wantong is a bit unexpected.”

After the closure of this 18-year-old market at Fuchengmenwai, it’s not yet clear that what kind of new industry will take its place, but “according to the functional orientation of Beijing, it will be finance, technology, culture, education or research-related,” Renmin deduced. The remaining markets will then be Muxiyuan Fabric Market and Liangma Flower Market.

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Photos: expo, bjnews, dianping