Xing Huo Day and Night Store is the first shop in Shanghai to open its doors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Checking out organic choices

Spring into vintage era

"Take the mairujing (extract of malt and milk) for example, only cancer patients could buy one box with hospital certifications," Zhang says.

Now, there are more than 1,000 products in each of our stores, and they are different even in our different stores, he says.

Zhang says Xing Huo's East Nanjing Road shop offers a few special local foods and pastries, as most of the visitors there are tourists.

Meanwhile, the Xizang Road store is favored by Shanghai people, so more attention is paid to cater to local tastes.

New development

In the 1990s, the arrival of foreign convenient stores and other domestic convenience brands, led to Xing Huo becoming less popular.

After considering the competition, the company became determined to stick to its special service model as well as providing high quality and low price products.

On average, Xing Huo's food products are priced between 10 percent and 20 percent lower than at other convenient stores, and some of their instant coffee is about 40 percent cheaper.