Chinese brands are gaining traction with thrifty young consumers in the US as inflation creates a tailwind for businesses competing on price, even in areas once led by Japanese companies like sushi and character merchandise.
Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is lined with shops of top luxury brands from around the world. Soon the flagship store of China’s Pop Mart—creator of the Labubu character—will be among them, right next to Austrian jeweler Swarovski.
Pop Mart opened its first US store in 2023, and now has more than 70 stores there. While locations to date have focused on the suburbs, it will now have a Times Square location along with its Fifth Avenue store.
“Popmart is choosing to open stores in places like Times Square because it is a highly visible location where they can rely on high foot traffic and gain access to opportunistic sales,” said Laura Pan, lecturer at Italy’s SDA Bocconi School of Management.
Slowing domestic demand in China has pushed companies to seek growth in the US Pop Mart identified North America as a driver of revenue growth in its full-year earnings for 2025. Sales in North and Latin America rose more than sevenfold on the year to RMB 6.8 billion (USD 1 billion).
Luckin Coffee is another Chinese brand with locations in Manhattan, where an iced latte, the cheapest item on the menu, starts at around USD 2.
“Starbucks is too expensive,” said Winnie Tan, who works in the city. “Luckin is much cheaper and the service here is fast.”
Most Luckin locations are stands with no seating. During a roughly one-hour period on a recent weekday afternoon, dozens of customers came to pick up orders.
Luckin is expanding aggressively. It has about 20 shops in New York after opening its first location last summer. The company has kept expansion costs down by opening stores at former Starbucks locations.
Chinese food and beverage chains built around affordability are gaining popularity with younger Americans. Mixue Bingcheng, one of China’s largest beverage chains, now has more than 10 stores in the US and is gaining traction with ice cream and drinks that start at USD 1–2.
Some Chinese companies are also expanding their US footprint by drawing on food culture that originated in Japan.
High-end sushi served in the popular chef’s choice “omakase” format has attracted customers with its sense of exclusivity and the chance to interact directly with the chef, even at prices ranging from USD 200–500 per person. But things are beginning to change.
In New York, lower-priced businesses run by China-affiliated chefs have emerged, offering sushi course meals for less than USD 100. Many chefs come from Fuzhou, China, according to Bocconi University’s Pan. That has led to the new term, “Fumakase,” a portmanteau of Fuzhou and omakase.
It has become increasingly difficult for Japanese companies to compete on cost.
“We’re expanding our customer base among independent cafes and other businesses in the US, but we can’t quickly increase production volume, and Chinese products are taking market share from us,” said Harusato Yamazaki, president at Yamaei, a green tea seller based in Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture.
Masayuki Kobayashi, head of international business development at Tominaga Boeki Kaisha, a company based in Hyogo prefecture that exports green tea to the US, said, “In the US, quality standards vary, and many stores use low-cost Chinese green tea.”
The rise of Chinese chains owes partly to US consumer sentiment. The consumer price index rose 3.5% on the year in June. Young people in particular, who have become thriftier amid prolonged inflation, tend not to be mindful of product’s origin if it offers good value.
China was once known as the world’s factory, with exports centering primarily on the manufacturing sector and sales to corporate customers. Now, consumer-oriented Chinese companies are using the US—the world’s largest consumer market—as a test bed.
“We are happy about the growth last year. We suffered, but we’re happy,” Pop Mart COO Si De said in a June interview with Bloomberg. “Although things have somewhat reverted this year, it has given us stronger confidence. Once you’ve seen how big the opportunity is globally, it naturally drives greater conviction and a willingness to invest more resources.”
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.77 = USD 1 based on estimates as of August 4, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.