--- description: Costco Wholesale Corp.’s first outlet in China opened on Tuesday and was overrun with customers willing to fight over discounted products. title: Amid Hour-Long Lines, Customers Fight Over Products as Costco Opens First Store in China image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5fb44982199f698/698a0207457a521faad62b21/china-costco-opening.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Amid Hour-Long Lines, Customers Fight Over Products as Costco Opens First Store in China by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2019 12:04 AM CUT  People visit the first Costco outlet in China, on the stores opening day in Shanghai on August 27, 2019. People visit the first Costco outlet in China, on the stores opening day in Shanghai on August 27, 2019.Hector Retamal—AFP/Getty Images by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2019 12:04 AM CUT (Bloomberg) — Costco Wholesale Corp.’s first outlet in China opened on Tuesday and was soon overrun with customers willing to [fight over](https://www.weibo.com/6364338800/I49KfvRbv?from=page%5F1005056364338800%5Fprofile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime&type=comment "undefined") discounted products and wait hours to pay for their purchases. The American retail giant had to suspend operations in its Shanghai store in the afternoon citing “heavy traffic and customer flows”, according to a text message sent by the company to consumers holding its membership card. The message was shared on Weibo, China’s micro-blogging website.  People try to get a roast chicken at the first Costco outlet in China, on the stores opening day in Shanghai on August 27, 2019. HECTOR RETAMAL—AFP/Getty Images  People visit the first Costco outlet in China, on the stores opening day in Shanghai on August 27, 2019\. - HECTOR RETAMAL—AFP/Getty Images The frenzy at Costco’s store comes at a time when the U.S. and China are locked in a tit-for-tat tariff war that shows no signs of abating and is making American firms wary of investing in the largest Asian economy. Costco is also entering a market where many of its global rivals have struggled and given up. Carrefour SA sold 80% stake in its China unit at a discount in June while German wholesaler Metro AG is looking to sell its operations. “There’s no other word to describe Shanghai’s Costco but crazy,” a Weibo user said, who gave up on the shopping plan after seeing two-hour queues at the checkout counters. Other Weibo users shared that they had to wait three hours to enter the parking lot while some decided to walk to the store to avoid the traffic jam. > [](https://twitter.com/NatAttack/status/1166373156044455936) Other pictures showed customers grabbing packets of roast chicken and elbowing out other shoppers at the store. Local news reports said the retailer offered discounts as deep as 60% on some products and annual membership for just 199 yuan ($28). The sale also includes the nation’s coveted fiery liquor drink from Kweichow Moutai Co. and Wuliangye Yibin Co. Costco didn’t immediately answer phone calls and an online inquiry seeking comments on Tuesday’s shopping frenzy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5662817/china-costco-store-opening/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5662817/china-costco-store-opening/"},"headline":"Amid Hour-Long Lines, Customers Fight Over Products as Costco Opens First Store in China","datePublished":"2019-08-28T00:04:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:56:43.809Z","description":"The frenzy comes at a time when the U.S. and China are locked in a tariff war","url":"https://time.com/5662817/china-costco-store-opening/","keywords":["China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5fb44982199f698/698a0207457a521faad62b21/china-costco-opening.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bloomberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bloomberg/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5fb44982199f698/698a0207457a521faad62b21/china-costco-opening.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Customers Flood Into Costco's First Wholesale Store in China","caption":"TOPSHOT-CHINA-US-ECONOMY-RETAIL-COSTCO","creditText":"Hector Retamal—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5662817/china-costco-store-opening/","name":"Amid Hour-Long Lines, Customers Fight Over Products as Costco Opens First Store in China"}}]}] ```