Hi,

any possibility in Sh to open a clothes shop, the idea is to share a place and costs with somebody else chinese or foreigners.
does anybody knows something about average costs, difficulties, rental procedure, time , locations and other matters ?
thanx
xie' xie'

Are you a foreigner? If yes this may not be that easy.

one of my former colleagues opened a little cloth shop about 2 yrs ago...to open one isn't so difficult...I guess..but the business is not easy to survive...maybe u can try taobao firstly...to have some regular customers...then begin to consider a real one...

zerg wrote:one of my former colleagues opened a little cloth shop about 2 yrs ago...to open one isn't so difficult...I guess..but the business is not easy to survive...maybe u can try taobao firstly...to have some regular customers...then begin to consider a real one...

Legally? As a foreigner?

yes im a foreigner , what about legal matters, for instance what you mean "is not so difficult " ?

consult a business consultant if you are unclear on even the most basic requirements of opening a business. Here is some info...
http://www.pathtochina.com/regcompany.htm

It seems a little unbelievable that anybody can open a little store and get a work visa in the process. Without the working papers, it is NOT legal to open a store.

sagira wrote:Hi,

any possibility in Sh to open a clothes shop, the idea is to share a place and costs with somebody else chinese or foreigners.

I have no legal knowledge about how...I just know a little girl who opened one...btw heres China...but if you wanna creat ur own brand...that is another story...but I guess most Chinese do business like...open it...make profit...get size...until one day have to then to consider the legalization stuff

It just got easier for foreigners to open retail stores. The legal name for what you want to open is a Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise ("FICE"). As of two weeks ago, local branches of MOFCOM ("COFTEC" in Shanghai) and AIC approve FICEs. That should speed the process. However, expect somewhat of a delay in COFTEC and Shanghai AIC understanding how to process these applications. By this time next month, I would expect them to be up to speed.

You do not need a valid visa to establish a new business in China. It is understood that once you have the business license, the new company will apply for a visa for you as the General Manager (or another position).

LoveBoxStorage wrote:It just got easier for foreigners to open retail stores. The legal name for what you want to open is a Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise ("FICE"). As of two weeks ago, local branches of MOFCOM ("COFTEC" in Shanghai) and AIC approve FICEs. That should speed the process. However, expect somewhat of a delay in COFTEC and Shanghai AIC understanding how to process these applications. By this time next month, I would expect them to be up to speed.

You do not need a valid visa to establish a new business in China. It is understood that once you have the business license, the new company will apply for a visa for you as the General Manager (or another position).

Good to know. In practice, though, what would be the minimum approved capital that would also allow a foreigner to obtain a work/res permit as the GM.

I'm not aware of any official / unofficial figure. I believe that the minimum registered capital to establish a WFOE in Shanghai is still RMB 100,000 (this is imposed by COFTEC & AIC - not the immigration authorities).

There's a temptation for foreign investors to try to establish businesses with the lowest amount of registered capital possible. However, this isn't a great idea. The amount of reg cap should really be based on your anticipated cash needs (plus a safety margin). If you run out of money on-shore, you'll have to increase registered capital, which takes a while for the approvals, verification, etc. In other words, you may not be able to get the capital increase before you run out of cash.

The minimum capital trap is well known. It would still be interesting to know what would be the minimum for opening your own store.

There may be a minimum capital requirement in the implementing regs for the FICE law, and it's possible that there will be an unofficial minimum that the Shanghai approval authorities dictate. The latter is one of the issues that I'm expecting the authorities to resolve internally in the near future (perhaps they've already done so). By calling COFTEC and AIC, you can find out whether either requirement exists. Regardless of whether there is a requirement, your feasibility study must show that your proposed reg capital suffices.

thats sounds reasonable guys , im aware of the facts , but i meant the easiest way ( when possible ) or as a foreigner I must to go through this exausting pilgrimage in the chinese bureau-crazy ? does anybody know an easy way how to promote your products ?

I would recommend going through the bureaurcacy. A Chinese national can open a company / store much faster, but either 1) you'll spend more time setting up a series of contracts giving you effective control of the company than it would take to register your own, or 2) you won't have legal control of the company.

It shouldn't really be THAT painful to do this for a small store.

i know that is some shop who sell their space to white collar people to sell their staff in their shop. one of them is Gegewu （格格屋）, i saw that on south shanxi road by changle road

maybe you could try that way? that means you dont need to worry about any legal stuff and also they will take care the products .

kamehamehon wrote:i know that is some shop who sell their space to white collar people to sell their staff in their shop. one of them is Gegewu （格格屋）, i saw that on south shanxi road by changle road

maybe you could try that way? that means you dont need to worry about any legal stuff and also they will take care the products .

Clearly you still don't understand that things are not the same for Chinese and Foreigners in China...