About 300 grocery trucks have disappeared from Shenzhen’s streets after a seven-year operation.
The mobile grocery shops were set up in October 2011 by the city government as a way of cutting down the costs caused by inflation. They had been popular in the neighborhoods because of their low prices compared to supermarkets and convenience stores and good quality, but they also drew criticism for taking up the space of the city’s streets, especially in busy downtown areas, and their great competition.
However, in the past month, residents began to notice the mobile grocery shops had disappeared because the contract between the government and the farm produce company came to an end.
The Shenzhen government started offering the agricultural produce company 70 million yuan (US$10 million) a year in October 2011 to set up the mobile grocery shops in order to fight against the price hikes.
Statistics showed the prices of the vegetables sold at the mobile shops were 30 percent lower than those at supermarkets. The prices of pork, eggs and cereals were generally 8 percent lower. Each of the shops sold their products for around six hours a day, mainly during the morning and evening rush hours, and could earn around 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a day.
The existence of the grocery shops even forced supermarkets to lower their prices. They drew criticism from the industry for causing unfair business competition among grocery sellers. In the beginning of 2017, some political advisers in the city suggested canceling the service since it took up streets space and caused great competition and protests from wet markets and supermarkets.
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