Sanya opens second duty-free store for daily consumer goods

Customers shop for zero-tariff items at the Sanya Wanghao Duty-Free Store for Everyday Essentials on Aug 1. [Photo/Sanya Daily]

Sanya in Hainan province welcomed its second duty-free store for daily consumer goods on Aug 1, the Sanya Wanghao Duty-Free Store for Everyday Essentials, in Joy City.

The outlet focuses on essential items. It offers a range of imported duty-free products, allowing local residents to enjoy zero-tariff benefits on daily goods — right in their neighborhood.

The store was bustling on its opening day. Fresh durians, imported milk powder, beverages and home care products were neatly arranged.

The Black Thorn (D200 Ochii) durian from Malaysia, priced at 176 yuan ($26.07) per kilogram, proved a big hit and many residents made special trips to buy imported fresh food, drinks and snacks.

One local woman noted that in the past residents had to leave the island once a year to enjoy duty-free shopping. Now, with the second store in Sanya's main shopping area, she added, it was really convenient to shop while out and about.

She hoped that the store would add more fresh and gourmet duty-free items in the future.

The new store boasts a floor space of more than 300 square meters, offering more than 200 duty-free items — including fresh fruit, food and beverages, personal care, baby products and household goods.

Plans are in place to expand the store to over 700 square meters, continuously adding new products and optimizing the selection to meet the diverse and high-quality import needs of local residents.

Back in February, Hainan's first five duty-free stores for daily consumer goods opened simultaneously, one of which was in Sanya — the city's very first — at No.1 Sanya Bay. It marked the official implementation in Sanya of the zero-tariff policy for inbound goods for residents of the Hainan Free Trade Port.

Under the policy, residents in the Hainan FTP can buy eligible imported goods at designated locations without paying import duties, value-added tax or consumption tax.

Qualified residents include Chinese citizens with a Hainan identification card, a residence permit, or local social security card, as well as foreign nationals living and working in Hainan with valid residence permits.

Each shopper is entitled to an annual duty-free allowance of 10,000 yuan, with no limit on the number of transactions, focusing on daily necessities.

Overall, Sanya's consumer market has shown strong growth this year, with spending on quality retail goods and services on the rise.

In the first six months, Sanya's total retail sales of consumer goods hit 30.966 billion yuan, a 2.2 percent increase year-on-year.

Looking ahead, Sanya plans to leverage the Hainan FTP's policy advantages to attract new brands and launch projects, enrich the consumer market and innovate shopping experiences.

By taking full advantage of the summer shopping season, Sanya will continue to issue vouchers for supermarkets, dining and duty-free shopping — effectively benefiting the public, stimulating market potential, boosting consumer vitality and driving high-quality growth in the city's consumer market.