Red Star Macalline reports 16 franchise projects and three franchised shopping centre closures

Red Star Macalline’s latest announcement sets out the operating status of its home furnishings shopping centre network and franchise projects. According to a 30 October report by Zhitong Finance, as at 30 September 2026 the company had licensed 16 home furnishings and building materials projects under franchise arrangements, encompassing 320 stores and specialist retail streets. Three franchised shopping centres closed during the reporting period. For those considering franchise opportunities in China, the announcement highlights not only the network’s scale but also the distinctions between operating models and reporting categories.

16 licensed projects does not mean 16 outlets

The announcement reports franchising as a separate business category: 16 home furnishings and building materials franchise projects, encompassing 320 stores and specialist retail streets. These figures refer respectively to projects and the commercial formats within them; they are not interchangeable.

The 16 projects should therefore not be described as 16 franchised outlets. Nor should all 320 stores and specialist retail streets be treated as standardised retail units. When assessing a potential partnership, first establish whether the licence covers an entire project, a shopping centre or an operating unit within a project, before discussing scale and operational requirements.

Franchised shopping centres close in three locations

The announcement identifies the three franchised shopping centres closed during the reporting period as being in Xinxiang, Henan; Yibin, Sichuan; and Fuzhou, Jiangxi. These closures show that the franchise network underwent some rationalisation during the period.

However, the number of licensed projects at the period end and the number of shopping centres closed during the period are measured on different bases. They should not simply be added together to infer the number of projects at the start of the period. Nor do these three closures alone establish the profitability of other projects or the performance of the partnership model as a whole.

For prospective partners, closure information is best treated as a starting point for due diligence: investigate the operating conditions of the proposed project and clarify exit arrangements during negotiations, rather than focusing solely on the network’s overall size.

Changes across directly operated, managed and strategic partnership centres

At the end of September, Red Star Macalline also operated 71 directly operated shopping centres, 201 centres managed on behalf of owners with varying levels of management involvement, and six home furnishings shopping centres through strategic partnerships. These categories are disclosed separately from franchise projects and should not collectively be described as franchised outlets.

During the reporting period, two directly operated centres closed, while another in Chengdu, Sichuan, switched to a managed arrangement. One managed centre opened in Xinghua, Jiangsu, and 18 closed. A managed centre in Lanzhou, Gansu, also became directly operated and was consolidated into Gansu Store No. 1. One strategic partnership centre closed in Xintai, Shandong.

These changes underline the need to distinguish between openings, closures and changes in operating model when reviewing the network. A change of model does not, in itself, necessarily mean that an operating location has been added or lost.

Assess each partnership at project level

This disclosure offers those interested in franchising a snapshot of a large home furnishings retail network: projects under the same brand may use different operating and management arrangements. A shared brand name does not mean that partnership structures are directly comparable.

Practical takeaway: when approaching a project, first verify its category, the scope of the licence and the entity actually responsible for operations. Then confirm management services, responsibility for costs and exit terms individually. Assessing the partnership through project-specific documents is more useful than relying on the brand’s network size alone.