Snack discount stores, marketed as low-priced and affordable, have become the top trend in county towns. Wang Shuo, who has lived in a fourth-tier city for over thirty years, suddenly finds his town transformed into a maze of Zhao Yiming Snacks. On the short 2-kilometer route from home to work, there are two Zhao Yiming Snacks stores. Turning the last corner, the shop near Wang Shuo's workplace that had been vacant for two months is now undergoing noisy renovations. Judging by the familiar sign style, it's likely another new Zhao Yiming Snacks store. The bustling scene at snack discount stores tempts Wang Shuo, who has some spare money, to consider franchising. The seed of turning his life around by opening a store quietly sprouts in his mind. However, before Wang Shuo can make the franchise call, the Zhao Yiming Snacks store closest to his home puts up a "shop for lease" sign. Wang Shuo, who had been dreaming of financial freedom, snaps back to reality and is grateful he didn't impulsively quit his job. Everyone says opening a snack discount store is profitable, but not everyone can earn that money. These fast-rising and fast-falling snack discount stores, before even reaching their peak, are already showing signs of decline in county towns. County Town Snack War There Is Never a Winner Snack discount stores are springing up everywhere in county towns, and mom-and-pop shops are the first to be impacted. Li Hongtao's mom-and-pop shop, more precisely a grocery store, is located in the center of several old residential buildings and has been in this third-tier city for nearly a decade. The store is small but has everything needed. Daily necessities like rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar take up more than half the store space, and for the remaining area, Li Hongtao has placed snack and beverage shelves to attract customers. A corner of the snack shelf in Li Hongtao's shop (Photo source: Li Hongtao) Thanks to its prime location, Li Hongtao's business has always been good. Since it's his own property, he and his wife don't have to worry about rent. "The shop is downstairs, and home is upstairs. Life was really comfortable back then," Li Hongtao recalls the store's glorious past while sitting on a red plastic stool. The turning point in Li Hongtao's comfortable life came a year ago when the Tang Chao snack store next door opened. Founded in Xiamen, Tang Chao has over 1,200 stores nationwide and is now aggressively expanding into county towns. From the moment the neighboring Tang Chao store started construction, Li Hongtao closely monitored its renovation progress. The day before, they changed the sign; the day after, they gradually set up shelves; a few weeks later, they announced the grand opening with drums and gongs. On opening day, Li Hongtao was the first customer of this Tang Chao store. In terms of store size alone, Tang Chao is equivalent to two of Li Hongtao's stores. The interior, decorated with "Tang Chao" branding and bright lights, made Li Hongtao's small shop look shabby in comparison. The interior decoration of Tang Chao made Li Hongtao feel inferior (Photo source: Li Hongtao) The newly arrived Tang Chao had the ambition to take all the business in the surrounding area. Li Hongtao looked around from outside to inside and finally learned from the cashier girl that this Tang Chao store was built with "heavy investment." Nearly 550,000 yuan was invested in franchise fees, inventory, rent, renovation, and labor. Recovering the investment quickly is now the store's only goal. At first, this Tang Chao store was extremely popular. A typical sign was that Tang Chao shopping bags seemed to become the "county town street bag." Because you could often see pedestrians carrying Tang Chao shopping bags of various sizes. Customers who used to buy snacks from his store all went to the neighboring store. Li Hongtao saw this and worried. "Fortunately, Tang Chao only sells snacks," Li Hongtao said, skillfully lighting a cigarette as he recalled the past. A smart business owner wouldn't let himself hang from one tree. Li Hongtao is considered a smart player in the county town business scene. With the neighboring Tang Chao thriving, Li Hongtao knew that staying put in his store would eventually lead to ruin, so he chose to proactively seek business and started community group buying. Now, in addition to the usual inquiries about daily necessities, tobacco, and alcohol from regular customers, his store also hears WeChat notifications for group buying orders. Li Hongtao started community group buying, and his business isn't too bad (Photo source: Li Hongtao) With supply sources and customers, Li Hongtao's community group buying didn't encounter many detours. While delivering goods on his three-wheeled truck through the streets, Li Hongtao noticed that shops along the street were gradually changing their facades. Snack brands like Snacks Youming were rushing into this small county town, opening stores in the most prominent street-corner shops and the most expensive commercial areas. But the transition from winner to cannon fodder happens in an instant. "The most numerous snack discount stores here are Zhao Yiming Snacks. There are three around the commercial city, with a density almost rivaling Mixue Ice City," Li Hongtao observed. He found that customers who used to go to Tang Chao were now being snatched away by the newly arrived Zhao Yiming Snacks. Within less than three months, the county town's "street bag" changed from Tang Chao's shopping bags to Zhao Yiming's plastic bags. In this county town, the war over snacks has never ceased. It's just that it has shifted from expensive snacks to discount snacks. Two years ago, a Liangpin Shop specialty store opened in the mall. Li Hongtao went to browse twice but left empty-handed both times, saying, "Everything is good, but I can't afford it." When he checked again after a while, the Liangpin Shop location had been replaced by a clothing store. Li Hongtao had also witnessed the glory of the 2010 Leisure Food store on the street corner. While Zhao Yiming and similar brands focus on big-brand low prices, 2010 Leisure Food specialized in preserved fruits and nuts. "That 2010 Leisure Food store wasn't big, with many plastic cabinets displaying bulk snacks like preserved plums and soft candies. Unlike online shopping, there you could buy just three plums or two candies." Li Hongtao heard from the owner of 2010 Leisure Food that the first month of opening happened to be before the Spring Festival, and customers were endless. But after the novelty and the festive season passed, daily revenue dropped to just three to four hundred yuan. By the time it was about to close, it hadn't even recovered its investment, and all the bulk snacks had piled up and spoiled. Not long after, Li Hongtao saw the owner of 2010 Leisure Food again, who had switched to selling down jackets. The Tang Chao store next door to Li Hongtao seemed to be faring no better. Under the price war waged by three Zhao Yiming Snacks stores, it couldn't sell its snacks, could only let them expire, and started losing money before making any profit. Li Hongtao has seen many failed attempts at achieving financial freedom in this area. When the Tang Chao store, unable to fight off multiple competitors, began discounting and clearing stock, Li Hongtao breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Another false alarm." Snacks Not Busy, Staff Very Busy The "Buy One Get One Free" snack carnival event at Snacks Busy in October made Cui Wenwen, a cashier at a franchise store, decide to resign. In October, Snacks Busy held a buy-one-get-one-free snack carnival (Photo source: Cui Wenwen) The buy-one-get-one-free coupons from the live stream needed to be redeemed offline. But Cui Wenwen's boss simply said, "Our store won't participate in this event. Just tell the customers who come." So every customer who came, Cui Wenwen had to explain, and by the third day of the event, her voice was hoarse. Snacks Busy was busy, and Cui Wenwen was even busier. Five months ago, Cui Wenwen saw a job posting at a Snacks Busy store not far from home. Having just left her job as a salesperson in a mall's clothing section, Cui Wenwen called the number on the posting. The interview went smoothly, and she was hired as a cashier with a salary of just over 3,000 yuan, two days off per month, and no meals or accommodation provided. After successfully becoming a cashier at Snacks Busy, Cui Wenwen began to regret it (Photo source: Cui Wenwen) Cui Wenwen naively thought she would only be responsible for cashier duties. But in the five months since joining, Cui Wenwen has been truly cheap labor. She and her two colleagues handle everything: restocking, moving goods, cashiering, and cleaning. Cui Wenwen works hard at her multi-tasking job, but her salary hasn't increased by a single cent. The boss's requirements are simple: no chatting, do more work, and ideally never be idle. Clearly, the boss wants to maximize every penny of wages paid. The boss paces around the store every day with his hands behind his back, putting immense pressure on Cui Wenwen. In her first week, Cui Wenwen had to memorize the codes of all bulk snacks in the store. With over 1,000 SKUs in the store, memorizing them in a week was hell for Cui Wenwen. But there's no choice; everything is about money. Snacks Busy requires a "thousand stores, one look" standard, with store image, materials, service, and display details included in monthly store assessments. Under this headquarters assessment system, Snacks Busy seems to need screws that never tire. From morning to evening, whenever the boss sees any gap in the snack displays, Cui Wenwen and her colleagues must immediately go to the warehouse to restock. Drinks priced much lower than market rates are not only the store's bestsellers but also great for building Cui Wenwen's biceps. The boss's standard for neat displays exhausts Cui Wenwen (Photo source: Internet) But what drives Cui Wenwen crazy the most is that customers always ignore the neatly arranged shelves, reaching to the back to grab fresher items, messing up the entire area before heading to the checkout with satisfaction. Looking at the ultimately messy shelves, Cui Wenwen works like a restocking machine, constantly straightening the toppled drinks and snacks, spinning like a top. She awards the title of "worst job with low pay and lots of work" to Snacks Busy. In this small town, there are too many Snacks Busy stores. Same decor, same prices, uniformly dressed staff, all equally dizzy with work. Working for two to three thousand yuan, slaving away as an NPC in a discount snack store (Photo source: Xiaohongshu) Compared to eloquent employees, those who can work like donkeys are the first choice for county town discount snack store owners. Cui Wenwen's boss once said during the interview, "Products like drinks and snacks are basically selected and priced by headquarters. Customers can choose on their own. After joining, you don't need to follow customers around to promote." Indeed, during her time at Snacks Busy, Cui Wenwen didn't have to promote like she did in the mall's clothing section, and she could go a whole day without saying much. But sometimes, she overhears customers chatting at the checkout, and the most common comment is, "This Snacks Busy has too few categories. Next time, let's go to the one near the bus station." Cui Wenwen admits, "My boss's Snacks Busy is in the worst location among the four nearby Snacks Busy stores. It has less foot traffic and fewer snack categories." Cui Wenwen's boss chose to directly franchise the leading brand Snacks Busy at the start, avoiding the pitfalls of small brands struggling to survive. But from opening until now, his store has no advantage other than being slightly older than the newer Snacks Busy franchises. The excitement of the buy-one-get-one-free carnival didn't reach Cui Wenwen's boss's store. Facing customers who came to redeem their coupons, Cui Wenwen could only bow and apologize repeatedly, telling them they had made a wasted trip. After many customers came to ask about redemption, the boss simply posted a notice at the store entrance: "For coupon redemption, please go to other stores." Once the notice was posted, customers basically detoured to another Snacks Busy not far away, and the store gradually became quiet. But the quietness was a rare relief for Cui Wenwen: "At least those days I didn't have to haul goods and restock like a donkey." With a salary of just over 3,000 yuan, it's really not worth exhausting herself. Cui Wenwen plans to work for six months and then return to her old trade, jumping to a clothing store at the intersection as a salesperson. "Anyway, whoever wants to be an NPC at Snacks Busy can be one. I'm out of here." County Town Snack Discount Stores Harvesting the Post-10s Generation The ones most hoping for the Snacks Youming store near the school to close are not the surrounding small shops, but the parents who pick up and drop off their children. Six months ago, a snack discount store called Snacks Youming opened near Liu Ning's daughter's elementary school. Liu Ning's first visit to Snacks Youming was dragged there by her daughter. The store's slogan, "Snacks Youming brand, cheap and good," played on a loop. Liu Ning watched her daughter, as if a switch had been flipped, skillfully grab a shopping basket at the entrance and weave through the neatly arranged snack shelves. At first, Liu Ning was curious about the low-priced snacks at Snacks Youming (Photo source: Liu Ning) On her first visit, Liu Ning found the snack discount store novel—big-brand snacks were cheaper than at the supermarket downstairs, and the variety was much greater than at specialty stores like Liangpin Shop. Watching her daughter's basket fill up, Liu Ning also grabbed some low-priced big-brand snacks. After checking out, Liu Ning marveled, "A big bag for just over 30 yuan is quite cheap, and the plastic bag is free." Her daughter had already torn open a lollipop and popped it into her mouth. Liu Ning, who doesn't pick up her daughter often, chose to turn a blind eye. At that time, Liu Ning didn't know that Snacks Youming would become her parenting nightmare for the next six months. After a short break, Liu Ning had to return to her busy work. The responsibility of picking up and dropping off her daughter fell back on the grandparents. With the tempting Snacks Youming and the grandparents' indulgence, Liu Ning's daughter enjoyed a simple, happy life. If Snacks Youming had a check-in system, Liu Ning thought her daughter would be the VVVIP of the store near the school. Her daughter became a loyal fan of Snacks Youming, but Liu Ning couldn't smile. The generational gap in parenting styles meant snacks were never in short supply at home, and neither was the tension. Her daughter, emboldened by her grandparents' support, became increasingly brazen. Snacks that should have been after-meal treats became the main course every night, and eating meals on time became a major issue at home. The drawer where Liu Ning keeps garbage bags is now full of Snacks Youming plastic bags. Thanks to her daughter, Liu Ning has figured out Snacks Youming's business secret. The bulk snack section is a major trap for harvesting customers in county town snack discount stores. Despite the loudspeaker blaring "Snacks Youming brand, cheap and good," besides the big-brand discount snacks, the bulk snacks that occupy 80% of the store are not cheap at all. But children don't care about "snack assassins" and just grab everything within reach. The snack assassins Liu Ning's daughter brought home (Photo source: Liu Ning) After work, Liu Ning carefully examined the latest receipt from her daughter, the little purchaser. A 20g Mimi shrimp cracker was 0.1 yuan more expensive than at the regular supermarket, and a palm-sized bag of pistachios cost 5.49 yuan. Clearly, her daughter's simple, happy daily life was slowly draining the grandparents' pensions. Being harvested by "low-priced snacks" is not an isolated phenomenon (Photo source: Xiaohongshu) Going to Snacks Youming after school and then heading home has become a daily ritual for Liu Ning's daughter. To prevent the house from being completely overrun by Snacks Youming, Liu Ning decided to play the strict parent first. "You can only buy three items. Put the rest back," Liu Ning said, not indulging her daughter this time. After crying and fussing, her daughter squatted down and put the extra snacks back one by one. During this time, Liu Ning looked around. The festive music was still playing on a loop, and the lights shone on the parents dragged in by their children, reflecting their helplessness. At the same time, Liu Ning saw a child who had been refused by a parent yesterday now paying at the counter with classmates, quickly finishing their spicy sticks before their parents arrived. Liu Ning felt a mix of emotions. It seemed the battle against Snacks Youming would be a long one. Snacks, a major obstacle in parenting (Photo source: Xiaohongshu) County town snack discount stores have turned parents into reluctant cash cows. Now, whenever Liu Ning passes that Snacks Youming store, she still silently prays, "Please close down soon, or at least don't be here!" Conclusion County towns have their own "stock market." While first- and second-tier cities watch the red and green on stock trading apps, county town residents are investing real money in physical stores. The stock market has its AI craze; county towns have their snack craze. On one hand, major snack brands are expanding aggressively, growing wildly around high-traffic areas, all wanting to seize the lower-tier market first and be the early birds. On the other hand, seeing the bustling snack stores, county town businesspeople seem to see a new code to wealth, sparking ambitions to take a gamble on the future. Ideals are grand, but the results are consistent: buy in and get stuck. County town snack discount stores are springing up everywhere, opening and closing, closing and reopening. The headquarters' smiles of huge profits don't seem to have reached the faces of county town franchisees and customers yet. *Names have been changed for privacy. -END-