China will develop 1,000 clusters of small stores in 100 pilot cities nationwide by 2025, according to a recent notice jointly released the Ministry of Commerce and six other government departments.

Stalls on the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai attract large number of consumers on May 2, 2020. (Photo: People's Daily online)

Small stores refer to roadside stores managed by self-employed individuals, micro-sized enterprises with less than 10 employees or an annual turnover of less than 1 million yuan, and online stores with an annual turnover of less than 15 million yuan.

Preferential policies such as broader access, subsidies, and guaranteed loans will be implemented to shore up these small stores and address their difficulties.

E-commerce platforms, major supply chain enterprises, and central kitchens are encouraged to cooperate with small stores to reduce their costs.

The move is an important measure to expand consumption, improve people’s livelihoods and increase employment, said Wang Jixiang, deputy head of the China Association of Warehousing and Distribution.

“The move mainly aims to promote the transformation and upgrading of small store clusters,” Wang said, suggesting that more commercial facilities and better services should be provided to realize the goal.

“To promote the development of small stores, upstream companies should be instructed to provide better services for them,” Wang added.

China had over 80 million registered small stores by the end of 2019, creating jobs for about 200 million people.