In my neighborhood, there was once a street known as 'Milk Tea Street', where various milk tea shops operated year-round, one closing and another opening. Until this year, I noticed that in the places where milk tea shops used to be, several snack stores suddenly appeared. Indeed, recently many snack stores have been springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. Searching for 'snack collection stores' on social platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, you'll see rows of brightly colored, neatly arranged shelves. Netizens in the comments are hotly debating: 'Is it worth it?', 'Is it reliable?', 'Can it make money?', 'Why is it popular?', 'How to open a store?'... From what I understand, there are many different chain brands of snack collection stores, with fierce competition and a fragmented landscape. Basically, different places have different snack collection stores. For example, in Guangdong where I am, 'Snack Youxuan', 'Snack Youming', and 'Snack Henmang' are indeed more common. Not only do they open stores, but business is also quite good. A reporter visited these snack stores and found that there were especially many consumers, mostly young people, or adults with children. They almost all carried a basket, some frantically grabbing various drinks, others carefully selecting snacks like chicken feet, jelly, and dried tofu in the dazzling array of products. The reporter said: 'It's no exaggeration to say that no one can walk out of Zhao Yiming empty-handed.' Besides opening stores aggressively, these snack brands are also favored by the capital market. In the past year, despite the overall 'cold' capital market, the snack collection track still secured 1.3 billion yuan in financing, accounting for 16% of the financing scale in the food and beverage sector. Even Liangpin Shopzi has entered this track, investing 150 million yuan in Zhao Yiming together with Heiyan Capital. So some friends might not understand: Why are snack collection stores so popular? First and foremost, of course, is cheapness. Let me take myself as an example: I usually like to buy Suntory and Dongfang Shuye oolong tea at a snack store called 'Xiaoshi Xiong' near my company. The reason is simple: these stores sell them at a lower price. At the original price, Suntory costs 5 yuan, and Dongfang Shuye costs 6.5 yuan, which is expensive. But in snack collection stores, Suntory is 3.9 yuan, and Dongfang Shuye is 4.5 yuan, saving quite a bit. In fact, regarding the low prices, many financial self-media have conducted surveys. According to surveys, snack collection stores indeed have a significant price advantage over traditional supermarkets and convenience stores. Although the difference of a few cents or yuan may seem small, as everyone knows, young people today may not care about spending big money, but they are quite particular about small amounts. Besides being cheap, a wide variety of products and fast new arrivals are also major advantages of these snack stores. The store environment is clean, products are neatly displayed, and it always gives a fresh feeling. From product display to the visual effect brought to customers, everything is done carefully. The variety of snacks goes without saying; as long as you enter the store, you can always find your favorite snacks. These details undoubtedly make young people trust these snack stores more and become loyal customers. In short, the reason snack collection stores can become popular is mainly because they cater to the trend of increasing snack varieties and growing popularity among young people. The leisure snack market is gradually showing a 'fourth meal' trend, and consumers' tastes and preferences are no longer one-dimensional. Snack collection stores emerged in this environment, meeting consumers' demand for buying a variety of snacks. The above advantages are often used by brands to educate potential franchisees. Many people do see a business opportunity, grit their teeth, pay the franchise fee, and open a snack store. But can opening a snack collection store really make you a fortune? Let's do the math, taking Snack Henmang as an example. According to its official website, the franchise fee plus deposit is 80,000 yuan, decoration costs about 100,000 yuan, shelves, monitors, and other equipment about 120,000 yuan, and initial stocking is 180,000-200,000 yuan. This means the minimum cost to open a franchise store is 480,000 yuan. Some snack brands even have total franchise costs as high as 800,000 yuan, which is similar to the '1 million yuan to open a Nayuki' thing we mentioned last week: So, if you spend several hundred thousand yuan to open a snack store, how long will it take to recoup your investment? Snack Henmang customer service told the media that the average customer transaction value is around 25-30 yuan, and the average daily turnover is 10,000-15,000 yuan. Its comprehensive gross margin is about 18%, and net profit margin is 8%-10%. The official payback period is 1.5-2 years. To achieve daily revenue of 10,000 yuan, assuming an average transaction value of 30 yuan, you need at least 333 customers per day. Although the official payback period is at least 1.5 years, who can guarantee that daily turnover will exceed 10,000 yuan? Not to mention turnover, can you guarantee more than 400 customers every day? Looking at netizens' store-opening diaries, daily turnover for single stores ranges from a few hundred to several thousand yuan, mostly not exceeding 10,000 yuan. Many franchisees choose to transfer their stores before completing a year, and even more lose everything: For consumers, the product and service quality of snack collection stores also raises questions. According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, many Zhao Yiming snack franchise stores have been administratively penalized. In addition, many netizens have reported that in many snack collection stores, there are problems with inaccurate weighing scales. Furthermore, some consumers have encountered issues like insects in canned goods on sale. In summary, snack collection stores are currently a mixed bag. If you want to franchise, you must calculate the relevant data carefully. If you want to shop, you need to pay attention to the quality of snacks. Is it easy to make money by franchising a snack store? If few people open them, maybe. But if they are everywhere, and everyone is touting that opening a snack store can make money, then you might want to check if they are trying to transfer their store! Everyone knows that a way to get rich is definitely not a good path.**