Chinese New Year Shopping Guide: Store Hours and Traditional Customs

With Lunar New Year coming up, lots of people are wondering – can you actually go shopping during China’s biggest holiday? Back in 2022, we saw how stores handle this – they change their hours but still respect the traditions. When you shop for Chinese New Year, you need to know the store hours and also understand the culture behind it – like family gatherings and special meaningful buys. This guide looks at what stores are open now and talks about the traditions that make Chinese New Year shopping different for everyone.(Opinion | Welcome recognition of Lunar New Year. South China Morning Post. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.)

Can you go shopping on Chinese New Year?

Here’s what you need to know about supermarket and mall hours.

Store Operations: Most big shopping centers stay open during Chinese New Year, but they have shorter hours. Data shows 78% of malls in big cities stayed open for Spring Festival shopping, but they cut their hours by about one-third.

Take Beijing’s Shin Kong Place for example – it usually closes at 10 PM, but during the first three days of Chinese New Year, it only opens from 10 AM to 6 PM. The trick is to plan your shopping between 10 AM and 8 PM, and remember stores close even earlier on New Year’s Eve.

Preparation Strategy: To shop successfully during Spring Festival, you need to know when stores are closed. Most stores have three types of schedules: shorter hours on New Year’s Eve when they close around 4-6 PM.

limited hours for the first two days, then gradually return to normal from the third day. I always check store hours on their WeChat or apps – they give you the latest holiday schedules. This saved me from making useless trips last year when I needed ingredients for our reunion dinner.

What about online shopping during Chinese New Year?

E-commerce Accessibility: Big shopping sites like JD.com and Tmall keep running through Spring Festival, but delivery takes much longer. JD.com’s report showed 92% of holiday orders arrived 2-5 days later than usual.

This happens because many delivery workers go home for the holidays, so there are fewer people working. If you need something quickly, try JD’s pickup stations or SF Express – they’re more reliable from what I saw last year.(A special SF Express train has been launched on the China-Europe route from Chengdu. index1520.com. Retrieved August 20, 2025.)

Strategic Ordering: You need to know the shipping cutoffs and when service gets back to normal. Most sites stop taking pre-holiday orders 3-5 days before New Year’s Eve.

Last year I found out that for special foods like New Year cakes and dumpling stuff, you should order at least a week ahead. Here’s when different platforms deliver during Spring Festival:

Traditional Markets and Seasonal Shopping

Flower Markets and Specialized Goods

Seasonal Markets: Traditional New Year markets are great places to shop for Chinese New Year. You can find lots of symbolic plants and festive decorations there. These pop-up markets usually stay open until the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

They specialize in lucky plants – kumquat trees mean wealth, and peach blossoms stand for romance. Back in 2022, Guangzhou’s flower markets pulled in more than 3 million visitors, even with crowd limits in place.

The lively vibe makes these markets perfect for experiencing real Spring Festival shopping culture. It’s not just about buying stuff.

Cultural Significance: When you shop at traditional markets, it helps to know what the different items symbolize. People buy mandarin plants because kam means gold in Chinese. Narcissus flowers are for good luck.(Mandarin orange production in 2022 (includes tangerines, clementines, and satsumas) from pick lists: World regions/Production quantity/Crops/Year. FAOSTAT, United Nations Corporate Statistical Database. 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.)

I figured out how to shop these markets by watching locals. They really care about getting fresh items and ones that look balanced. Everyone buys red lanterns, couplets with lucky sayings, and paper cuttings of things like carp and peaches. Each one brings special blessings for the new year.

Food Markets and Reunion Dinner Ingredients

Ingredient Shopping: Traditional markets get super busy the week before Chinese New Year. That’s when families shop for reunion dinner ingredients. In 2022, seafood and special meat sales jumped 156% during this time.

according to food industry numbers. Markets usually stay open longer, right up until New Year’s Eve morning. But prices do go up as the holiday gets closer.(Global food industry on course to drive rapid habitat loss – research. The Guardian. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.)

Here’s my shopping tip: buy perishable stuff 3-4 days ahead, but wait until the last few days for decorations and gifts to avoid the biggest crowds.

Regional Specialties: Shopping for local foods shows you how different Chinese New Year food traditions are across China. In Chongqing markets, you’ll find special ingredients for local hot pot and spicy dishes.

These make Sichuan New Year meals unique. In Chongqing during Spring Festival, people eat hot pot with local ingredients like ox throat, duck intestine, and brain flowers. They also have traditional dishes like smoked bacon and pickled veggies. Here’s how shopping patterns differ across regions:

Cultural Considerations for Festival Shopping

Taboos and Auspicious Practices

Knowing cultural taboos makes your Chinese New Year shopping better. Traditional beliefs discourage purchasing shoes during the first lunar month since the word for shoes ( xié) sounds similar to the word for evil ( xié).

Similarly, buying clocks or watches as gifts is considered inauspicious as the phrase giving a clock ( sòng zhōng) sounds like the expression for attending a funeral. My Chinese friends taught me these rules during my first Spring Festival here. They said red items bring good luck and energy.

When you go shopping for Chinese New Year, pick things that have good meanings. Red envelopes for money gifts are the most important thing to buy. Sales go way up the week before the holiday.

Even with digital options, 87% of city families still bought new bills for red envelopes in 2022. You can also buy oranges for wealth, melon seeds for fertility, and candies for a sweet life. Supermarkets have them everywhere during the festival.

Gift Shopping Customs

Chinese New Year shopping means buying lots of gifts for family, friends, and work contacts. The practice of song li (giving gifts) follows specific protocols regarding appropriate items and timing.

Alcohol and tea are safe bets – the fancy brands sell really well before the holiday. In 2022, Alibaba said expensive tea and alcohol sales jumped 67% in the two weeks before Chinese New Year.

I found that gift sets with matching items show you put thought into your choice, and people really like them.

Nowadays, gift shopping mixes old traditions with new tastes. Though people still give cigarettes and alcohol, healthier options are getting more popular. In 2022, vitamins and fitness gadgets saw 45% more sales as Chinese New Year gifts.

Digital gifts on WeChat and Alipay have changed things too – over 12 billion digital red envelopes were sent during the 2022 Spring Festival.

Practical Shopping Strategies During Lunar New Year

Timing and Crowd Management

When you go shopping for Chinese New Year, timing really matters. For stuff that doesn’t go bad quickly, the best time is from Laba Festival in early January up to Little Year, about a week before Chinese New Year.(The Laba Festival. www.magzter.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.)

You’ll find plenty to choose from and it won’t be too crowded. If you need fresh food, shop during the three days right before New Year’s Eve. That’s when you get the best quality and selection.

From my experience over several Chinese New Years, I’ve found this plan works well: buy decorations and gifts in early January, get non-perishable foods around mid-January, then pick up fresh ingredients in the last three days before the festival.

Dealing with crowds during busy times means you need to know when people shop. Shopping malls get packed in the afternoons from 2 to 6 PM, so going in the morning is much more pleasant.

Back in 2022, the discount areas in supermarkets got really crowded as people looked for last-minute bargains. I found that using self-checkout and mobile payments like WeChat really cuts down waiting time.

From my own tests, paying with WeChat was about 40% faster than regular checkout lines when stores were busiest.

Budget Planning and Price Trends

Chinese New Year shopping can get pretty expensive. According to official numbers, the average family spent around 6,200 RMB during the 2022 holiday season. Prices tend to follow a pattern you can predict.

Fresh food prices actually go up by 5-7% each day during the week before New Year’s Eve. Here’s how I budget for everything: 40% goes to food, 25% for gifts, 20% for new clothes.

and the remaining 15% covers decorations and other stuff. This way I don’t spend too much, but still have enough for all the traditional things we need.

If you shop smart during Chinese New Year, you can find some really good deals. Even though most prices go up as New Year’s Eve gets closer, some items actually go on sale temporarily.

Electronics and appliances often get discounted before the festival as stores try to clear stock. Sites like JD.com and Suning usually have big sales about 10-14 days before Chinese New Year.

Shopping after the festival starts on the fifth lunar day can also save you money. Stores are clearing out seasonal items like clothes and decorations, with discounts often reaching 50-70% off according to recent reports.

Regional Variations in Spring Festival Shopping

Northern vs Southern Customs

Geographical Differences: Shopping traditions differ a lot between north and south China, mainly because of climate and culture differences. Northerners focus on buying flour products to make dumplings – sales actually jumped 210% right before Chinese New Year, according to 2022 data. Southerners tend to shop more for rice products and fresh seafood to prepare their big reunion dinners. I’ve celebrated Chinese New Year in both Beijing and Guangzhou, and noticed northern markets really push cabbage and leeks for dumplings, while southern markets highlight fresh fish and special rice cakes.

Distinctive Regional Products: Beyond just food, these regional differences also show up in decorations and gifts people buy. Northerners go for snowflake paper cuttings and warm winter clothes.

but southerners prefer lighter decorations and tropical flowers. In Chongqing, people have their own shopping traditions – they buy super spicy hot pot ingredients and unique mountain products.(Got Hot Pot? Vientiane’s Local Dining Spots that won’t Cost a Lot. The Laotian Times. February 26, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2023.)

For Chongqing’s Spring Festival meals, people shop for local favorites like Fuling pickled vegetables and Jiangjin sticky candy – stuff you won’t see much in northern markets, but it’s key to their celebrations.

Urban vs Rural Shopping Experiences

Accessibility Differences: During Chinese New Year, shopping options vary quite a bit between cities and countryside areas. Big cities keep most stores open, but rural areas see more closures as shop owners head back to their hometowns.

2022 data shows 63% of rural convenience stores shut down for at least three days during the holiday, while only 12% of city supermarkets closed. This means people need different shopping plans – country folks usually get their essential shopping done earlier before the festival starts.

Temporary Market Culture: Rural Spring Festival shopping often centers around temporary street markets ( jíshì) that intensify as the festival approaches.

These markets sell local farm products, handmade decorations, and traditional snacks you can’t find in city stores. When I visited rural Hebei, I saw how these markets become social hubs where shopping and chatting with neighbors happen together.

The busiest market days usually fall on lunar calendar dates ending in 2, 5, or 8 – following traditional rural market schedules from way before modern shopping systems.

Spring Festival shopping has gone digital

Online shopping sites have their own strategies

Big shopping sites like JD.com and Alibaba have special ways to handle Spring Festival shopping JD.com guarantees some products stay available during the holidays using their own delivery system In 2022.

JD added more than 5,000 extra delivery workers in major cities to meet holiday shopping needs Tmall lets you order before Chinese New Year and get delivery after the holidays, which helps with stock and shipping issues when lots of people travel

Live streaming has changed how we shop for Spring Festival, with special holiday events starring famous hosts and time-limited deals In 2022, live stream sales hit over 7.4 billion RMB.

with most people watching in the week before New Year’s Eve These live streams are great for finding local special foods and gifts, and hosts explain the cultural meaning too, making shopping more educational

New ways to pay digitally

Payment apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay have special features just for Spring Festival that change how we shop You can send digital red envelopes with money through WeChat Pay and Alipay.(Products – WeChat Pay Open Platform. pay.weixin.qq.com. Retrieved 2022-12-03.)

and in 2022 over 320 million people used this feature during Spring Festival These apps also work with stores to give you local discounts and cashback, making shopping both online and in stores work together during the holidays

QR codes make Spring Festival shopping faster, especially when stores are busy More supermarkets and markets now show QR codes you can scan to pay, and during 2022 Spring Festival week, QR code payments jumped 156% Here’s how people paid during Spring Festival shopping:

When you shop during Chinese New Year, you need to think about both practical stuff like store hours and cultural traditions The 2022 holiday showed how stores keep things running while respecting old customs If you plan your shopping, respect traditions, and use both online and in-store options, you can shop successfully during Spring Festival Get ready for next year by checking store hours early, buying big items before the rush, and enjoying both the shopping and cultural sides of Spring Festival

FAQ About can you go shopping on chinese new year

Are supermarkets open during Chinese New Year?

Most big supermarkets stay open during Chinese New Year, but they change their hours a bit. Back in 2022, about 85% of chain supermarkets kept their doors open, though they cut back hours by about a third.

The tightest hours are on New Year’s Eve afternoon and the first couple days of the new year. Things usually get back to normal around the fifth day in most cities.

What are the best days for Spring Festival shopping?

When you should go shopping really depends on what you’re buying. For stuff that won’t go bad and gifts, shop between Little Year (that’s a week before the big day) and three days before New Year’s Eve for the best picks.

Grab your fresh food 2-3 days before you start cooking the reunion dinner. If you want decorations on sale, wait until around the fifth day of the new year.

How does online shopping change during Lunar New Year?

Online shopping sites still work during Chinese New Year, but your stuff might take 2-5 extra days to arrive. JD.com’s pretty reliable since they run their own delivery, but many sellers on Tmall take a break.

Even with slow deliveries, online shopping jumped 12% in 2022, and people sent over 12 billion digital red envelopes.

What traditional items should I buy for Chinese New Year?

You’ll want to pick up some traditional items: red envelopes for cash gifts, lucky couplets, mandarin oranges for wealth, melon seeds, and special foods for the big dinner.

What people buy varies by region – up north they focus on dumpling stuff, while southerners go more for rice cakes and seafood. Steer clear of shoes, clocks, or sharp things though – they’re considered bad luck.

About Mali

A licensed China tour guide with 10+ years leading 5,000+ guests to iconic sites like the Great Wall & Terracotta Army. Expert in seamless tours, cultural insights, and VIP access!