The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1980–2020
Mei Hua Tai was Taiwan's beauty empire — 29 stores at its peak, gone by May 2020
A 40-year-old Taiwanese beauty retail chain closed all 15 remaining stores after COVID-19 crushed foot traffic, ending a slow decline.
Mei Hua Tai · 2020-05
What happened
Mei Hua Tai (美華泰流行生活館) was a Taiwanese beauty and cosmetics retail chain that operated for about 40 years. At its peak, it had 29 stores across the island, offering a wide range of beauty products, cosmetics, and personal care items. It was a household name in Taiwan's beauty retail sector, competing with both domestic chains and international drugstore brands.
The chain had been in decline for years before the pandemic. Competition intensified from international beauty retailers, drugstore chains, and the rise of e-commerce. By January 2020, Mei Hua Tai had already closed 10 stores, reducing its footprint to 15 locations. The COVID-19 pandemic was the final blow: foot traffic collapsed, and the company informed suppliers on March 2, 2020 that it would not renew leases.
The remaining 15 stores closed in two phases, with the last stores shutting by the end of May 2020. The company stated that the pandemic caused a significant decline in customer traffic and overall sales performance, making further operations unsustainable. The closure affected hundreds of employees and left a gap in Taiwan's traditional beauty retail landscape.
Why it happened
- International beauty chains and drugstore brands eroded Mei Hua Tai's market share over a decade, as consumers preferred stores with broader product ranges and stronger brand recognition.
- The rise of e-commerce and online beauty shopping reduced foot traffic to physical stores, a trend that accelerated year after year.
- Already weakened by 10 store closures in January 2020, the company had no reserve to absorb the COVID-19 pandemic's sudden collapse in customer traffic.
- As a family-owned chain with no outside investment, Mei Hua Tai could not finance a digital transformation or a pivot to online sales fast enough to offset the physical-store decline.
The lesson
A retail chain that was already losing stores before the pandemic was not a victim of COVID-19 — COVID-19 was the final push off a cliff it was already standing on.
Aftermath
All 15 Mei Hua Tai stores closed by May 2020. The brand ceased to exist. The closure was widely covered in Taiwanese media as a symbol of the pandemic's impact on traditional retail, though industry analysts noted that the chain had been in decline for years before COVID-19.
Sources
- Liberty Times: Mei Hua Tai closes all 15 stores due to COVID-19 losses (March 2020)
- Business Today: Mei Hua Tai announces closure of all 15 stores (March 2020)
- ETtoday: Mei Hua Tai closes all stores, 40-year history ends (March 2020)
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