Supermarket chain Carrefour has opened a new store model in China in a bid to gain market share.

The company is generally known for its large stores with a full range of products, but it is now repositioning itself in the competitive Chinese market with a 'community' style fresh produce store.

Easy Carrefour opened its doors in Shanghai on Sept. 30. This is Carrefour China's brand new attempt at a different store model after an 80% stake was acquired by Chinese retailer Suning one year ago.

This store of 430 square meters (1410 square feet) is located in a residential area, selling mainly fresh fruit and vegetables along with other products including meat, eggs, fish and shrimp, rice, noodles, grains, oils, and beverages.

It has about 3,000 SKUs, which it says meet the demands of people living in the local area.

Chang Fei, Vice President of Suning Carrefour China, said that the newly opened store is rich in variety and complete in categories, breaking the pattern of traditional community stores.

With more fresh community stores in the future, Carrefour's model of using both large store and small stores will further cut costs, the company says.

In recent years, there are more and more community fresh produce stores in China. A public survey shows that 30%-40% of spending of urban residents happens within 1 kilometer of their homes. This is an area that traditional supermarkets cannot reach, and it is also an area that e-commerce cannot fully penetrate.

Carrefour said that as quality of life and consumer demand increase, traditional mom-and-pop shops are gradually disapprearing, and community fresh produce stores have become the key location for buying produce.