Sewing needles, tools, decorations, food items, toys, mobile phone chargers, and home or office supplies. At the end of the 1990s, Chinese shops grew in Spain as a result of a commerce that offered a wide range of products at low rates in stores that stayed open late.
Two decades later, the shift in societal norms, competition from huge supermarkets, and the advent of e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, AliExpress, Temu, and Shein have taken their toll on these businesses, who are looking for new ways to adapt to the changing times.
What used to be purchased at the Chinese shop around the corner is now even faster and more convenient at the click of a button while sitting on the sofa, and what was once inexpensive has become more expensive due to inflation, rising rents, and soaring water and electricity bills.
Chinese businesses in Spain are no longer as appealing or competitive as they once were, and Chinese restaurants are now putting other Asian dishes onto their menus to attract customers and stay afloat.
Chinese company entrepreneurs are opening tapas bars, nail salons, hairdressers, and clothes stores. Ge, a Chinese business owner, was a visionary 15 years ago when he decided to create a clothes boutique on Calle Pelayo. “There were no similar businesses in the area and I thought it could work,” according to him.
He arrived in Spain 24 years ago and spent eight years in Barcelona before moving to Malaga. He currently runs Lencería Mabi. “It’s not going badly,” he says. “It might be worse, because people are increasingly making purchases online. The good news is that my shop is in an area where many older people reside, and they still want to come in and feel the clothing before trying them on,” he says in poor Spanish. Despite the hardships, he believes it was a “good decision”.
Susana (as she prefers to be called), who moved to Malaga from Shanghai ten years ago, is still running her shop in front of the Hospital Civil, due to faithful clients, particularly around the start of the school year. “Families come to buy things for school and take other things with them,” she says about her firm, which is still lucrative but has a smaller profit margin. “If I want people to come back, I have to lower the prices,” she adds, adding that she is not considering switching to another type of business.
There are 3,342 Chinese individuals living in the Costa del Sol’s capital
According to INE data updated to 2024, Malaga province has 8,237 Chinese people registered, with 3,342 of them living in the city. According to data from the Union of Professionals and Self-Employed Workers (UPTA), 14% of foreign RETA associates in Spain are of Chinese descent (66,515). Furthermore, more than half of Chinese citizens of working age (55%) are entrepreneurs, compared to 45% who are employed under the general system, making it the only community in Spain where self-employed workers outnumber employed workers.
Eduardo Abad, president of the UPTA, appreciates these entrepreneurs’ ability to adapt and reinvent themselves. “They have been able to direct their efforts towards the service sector, which is now the main area where new economic activities are consolidating,” according to him.
Kelly started Nails Arte on Calle Esperanto shortly before the summer. “We meet a demand with a service that sets us apart,” says the 35-year-old, who moved to Spain from Zhejiang two decades ago to join her parents, who owned a Chinese restaurant. “They have now added more Asian goods into their menu, while still offering the more traditional Chinese dishes. It’s understandable that customers have become accustomed to different flavours. It’s like when I came in Spain and my mother handed me a serrano ham sandwich. “I didn’t like it then; now I love it,” she declares.
Author: Derek Appleton
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