Häagen-Dazs closed 92 China stores in a year — and handed the rest to a tea chain

The numbers came from Häagen-Dazs' own mini-program: 550 mainland stores at the 2019 peak, 263 by June 2025, and 171 on May 29, 2026 — 92 closed in a single year. The brand exited Nanning, Weifang and Shijiazhuang entirely; Taiyuan and Nanchang each kept one store, Jinan three. In Beijing, where 17 stores remained, the Anzhen location of more than ten years closed for good on July 29, 2026 — staff said it was a withdrawal, not the relocation the notice suggested.

On June 2, 2026, General Mills announced the hand-off: an exclusive license for Häagen-Dazs mainland stores and its gift business passed to a consortium including Ningji, a domestic hand-shaken lemon-tea chain, expected to close within the year, with Citi advising and terms undisclosed. General Mills keeps the lighter businesses for itself — supermarket retail and foodservice supply — and called the deal part of a plan to focus on brands and channels with profitable growth.

The economics had already decided. Global premium ice-cream revenue at General Mills slid from $800 million in 2018 to $730 million in 2024. Chinese consumers no longer pay foreign-brand premiums on faith; DQ, gelato shops and new tea chains made dessert an everyday purchase, and a ¥58 scoop carried direct-operated fixed costs that a franchise-native operator was better built to bear.