SHENZHEN - US retail giant Costco Wholesale on Friday opened a new store in the city of Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, which is the sixth Costco store on the Chinese mainland.

The store, located in Longhua district, covers a total area of 44,500 square meters with nearly 15,000 square meters of shopping space.

It marks a crucial step in the retail giant's expansion into South China.

Hordes of consumers flooded into the store on Friday morning. Popular items like strawberries and cherries were eagerly snapped up and sold out very soon after hitting the shelves.

"I arrived at 8 am this morning and waited for about half an hour. I just bought goods worth over 2,000 yuan (about $279.2), but it's not enough. There are too many people now, and we will come back later tonight," said a Shenzhen resident surnamed Wang who lives near the store.

Costco decided to open the new Shenzhen store because of the city's development potential and economic hub status in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, said Prudence Jang, Country Manager of Costco China.

"Costco has always considered China a crucial strategic market," Jang said. "We will open a membership store in Nanjing this year and venture into the gas station business there, expanding our commercial footprint to more regions in China."

Costco has over 870 stores worldwide, and some 120 million members. The retail giant opened its first store on the Chinese mainland in 2019 in Shanghai's Minhang district.