Parkson China checks out at a Beijing location

Medium- and high-end department store operator Parkson Retail Group Ltd has temporarily closed one of its Beijing stores following two closures elsewhere in the country, adding to a chorus of doubts being voiced about the challenged retail format.

The temporary closure by Parkson China - the first foreign-invested retailer in the country, opening in Beijing in the early 1990s - is of its store on the East Fourth Ring Road in the capital city.

Earlier this year, it closed a store in Jinan, Shandong province, as well as one in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.