A tunnel of snacks ushers in visitors to a wonderland where walls are made of giant loaves of bread that smell like the real deal and a massive portrait of pop star Jay Chou is pieced together using 76,000 lollipops.
Welcome to Snack Kingdom, a 13,000-square-meter superstore in downtown Changsha, Hunan province, which made it to the Guinness World Records as the world's largest snack shop when it opened on April 17.
The store reflects the paradigm shift that China's snack industry is witnessing — from grab-and-go convenience to an immersive, full-day experience where shopping, socializing and entertainment converge.
"This place is so huge that you even need a map to not get lost. When you enter, a tunnel of snacks transports you into this wonderland. It's two whole floors of food and fun places for photo-ops," said Marissa, an expatriate from the United States, who lives in Wuhan, Hubei province.
She traveled recently to Changsha with her husband and son, and her video documenting their visit to the store was reposted by Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the US.
"For kids and grown-ups alike, Changsha's Snack Kingdom is like a wildest dream coming true!" Xie wrote on the social media platform X.
The numbers are equally wild. In its first month of operation — from April 17 to May 16 — the store attracted more than 1.04 million visits, according to its operator Busy Ming Group.
On average, Snack Kingdom welcomes more than one customer each second during its 12-hour business day. Over the five-day Labor Day holiday, which started on May 1, about 265,000 visits were recorded, pushing daily foot traffic beyond 53,000 — higher than a large-scale concert. The store has also generated millions of views across online social media platforms.
Changsha resident Li Mingchun, who visited Snack Kingdom on its opening day, described the place as "sensory overload in the best possible way".
"I went after work, and had to wait in line for half an hour just to get in. Inside, there's so much food, and the space is huge — you can't finish exploring it all. There are photo corners and a tasting area," he said.
Li added that he intended to buy some snacks, but the checkout lines were so long that he had to give up. However, he plans to "definitely revisit" when it is less crowded.
The sheer scale of products is also staggering. The store offers over 35,000 varieties of snacks across more than 6,500 brands from 70 countries and regions. If a person tried one new snack each day, it would take about 96 years to sample everything.
The immersive retail experience extends beyond Snack Kingdom.
In late April, Chayan Yuese, a popular Chinese tea brand, opened its first fresh snacks store in Changsha, adopting a "store-within-a-store" model covering about 400 square meters.
According to the company, more than 70 fresh snacks, including braised dishes, pastries and Chinese-style dim sum, were introduced, and these featured simple ingredients with minimal additives.
In addition to its fresh snacks store, Chayan Yuese has nearly 100 snack stock keeping units, including cookies, pastries, puffed snacks, chocolates, dried fruits, nuts, braised items and spicy gluten. Its top-selling snack — crunchy bread cubes — generates more than 1 million yuan ($147,800) in monthly sales on major platforms, the company said.
Mixue Bingcheng, China's largest tea chain with 48,300 domestic stores, has also set up snack sections in its flagship locations nationwide, offering affordable items such as spicy gluten for 1 yuan and deboned chicken feet for 3 yuan, turning a simple drink run into a bigger shopping trip.
The trend reflects a broader shift in how young Chinese consumers shop and socialize.
According to the 2026 China snack consumption trends white paper, released by financial media outlet Yicai, the nation's snack market has exceeded 1 trillion yuan in annual value, as snacking evolves into a "fourth meal" to convey emotions and facilitate social connections.
Most shoppers are simply enjoying the ride. Marissa said that while growing up, she wasn't allowed to play with her food. "But in China, food and fun are synonymous," she added.
