The Gongbei Checkpoint Duty-Free Store for Arrivals, the largest one of its kind among Asian land-border checkpoints, met the public on May 24, aiming to improve Gongbei Checkpoint's tourism supporting facilities.

Gongbei Checkpoint, which connects the Chinese mainland and Macao, is the country's largest road checkpoint. The store's upgrade was launched in 2020, together with the checkpoint's renovation project. The store's overall aesthetics now features marine elements like sailboats, seashells, and waves, showcasing Zhuhai's charm as a modern coastal city.

With an operation area of 3,889 square meters (154 sq rds), this store has two floors and is located at the core area of the arrival corridor of Gongbei Checkpoint. It now offers six categories of products instead of the previous two.

The brand-new Gongbei Checkpoint Duty-Free Store for Arrivals [Photo by Zhong Fan / Guanhai App]

Its first floor is for high-end international perfume, cosmetics, and best-selling tobacco and alcohol products, while the second floor is for high-quality imported consumer goods, such as watches and sunglasses.

The ratio of counters for perfume and cosmetics products has remarkably increased, now accounting for 70 percent of the first floor.

Zheng Zhiqu of Zhuhai Duty Free Enterprises Group said the store has attracted more than 100 global high-end brands such as La Mer, Tom Ford, and Jo Malone. 

The store's product layout has been optimized, and it has applied an opening-up operation model, said Zheng. This has helped improve customers' shopping experience and contributed to developing a one-stop duty-free shopping destination.

Duty-free shopping has been recognized as a contributor to the strong growth in the tourism economy in recent years. The sales revenue of cosmetic products in duty-free stores across Zhuhai in the first quarter of 2023 saw a remarkable surge. In February alone, the sales revenue expanded by 112 percent year-on-year.

Since trial operations began on May 16, the Gongbei Checkpoint Duty-Free Store for Arrivals achieved a month-on-month growth in sales revenue of around 20 percent. The number of sales for perfume, cosmetics, and boutique products also increased by nearly three times.

Gao Hui of the Tax Free World Association said that the upgrade of the Gongbei Checkpoint Duty-Free Store now more accurately reflects the demands of Chinese consumers. Gao added that not only does the new store improve the checkpoint's duty-free supply structure, but it also contributes to the upgrading of Zhuhai's business model. It will also play an influential role in promoting the high-quality development of Zhuhai-Macao tourism.