France's Paris Chinese Business Community: ChaPanda Opens at the Carrousel du Louvre, Its Fourth Paris Store in Just Over a Year
The map of Chinese-run businesses in Paris, France, has a new address: on September 29, 2026, Chinese tea chain ChaPanda opened a store at the Carrousel du Louvre, its fourth Paris location in just over a year and, according to the brand, the first Chinese modern tea brand to set up in the shopping gallery that leads to the Louvre Museum.
ChaPanda arrived in Paris in September 2025 with a first store in the 13th arrondissement, then opened at Galeries Lafayette and by the Palais Garnier before the Louvre. The new store sells drinks made with tea, fresh fruit and milk, along with limited-edition products and items created for the Paris opening.
"In a strategic market like France, the value of landmark locations matters more than the number of stores in the short term," Wang Huan, general manager of ChaPanda Overseas, said in the brand's October 9 statement. The company says it is favouring prestigious locations and long-term investment in France, rather than the faster rollout it uses in South Korea or Malaysia.
Founded in Chengdu, Sichuan, in 2008, ChaPanda ranks among China's top three modern tea brands by market share, operates more than 8,800 stores worldwide, listed in Hong Kong in 2024, and has sold more than 400 million cups of its signature mango pomelo sago series. Overseas, it has signed more than 130 stores and opened more than 100 across 13 countries and regions, including more than 60 signed in South Korea, where local customers account for 90 percent of its clientele.
The Louvre location is also about footfall. The Louvre Museum welcomed 9 million visitors in 2025, up from 8.7 million the year before, nearly three quarters of them from abroad, with Chinese tourists the second-largest foreign group after Americans. According to Atout France, 1.5 million Chinese visitors travelled to France in 2025, and air arrivals from China were forecast to rise by more than 7 percent in the first half of 2026.
France's tea-drink market is still growing: the report cites estimates putting the French bubble tea market at between 85 million and 100 million euros in 2025, growing 8.5 to 12 percent a year. ChaPanda says the Louvre limited editions will serve as a test of French consumer habits before it extends its offer in France.
(Source: L'Express Franchise)
Source: L'Express Franchise
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴黎卢浮宫宫殿实景。照片：Diego Delso，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: The Louvre Palace in Paris. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
