China its all about the numbers

Da Lang Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
Chang Ping Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
Chang Ping and Da Lang are only two of the towns I frequent. By any measure calling them a town is a drastic understatement. Both are growing at a prodigious rate, invalidating any census demographics published.
So what does it all mean Basil?
More Tea Shops .. for the life of me I fail to comprehend the number of tea shops .. 2nd. only to mobile phone stores .. if you don’t count ladies clothing stores …
Typical construction here for retail is mix of retail and living space. Four / Five story building. With ground / 2nd floor as retail with family living space above.
A new expansion development is in process, approx 200 meter frontage, with no less than four (4) new tea shops. This is an area that houses; local factory workers, retail clerks and small family businesses. No draw on business men or resident foreigners. (except me)
My friend, Yong Le, whose family own 40 tea shops in Guangdong province, estimates there are about 200 such shops in Da Lang. Some close quickly, but there is a steady increase in those that make it. One weekend I set out to visit as many shops as possible. I had to stop after 27, these all within a 20/25 min walking radius.
I tried a similar venture in Chang Ping. On my 20min drive from hotel to factory I counted 17 shops. On a 20min walk from the hotel, Matt and I counted 11 more shops. I only had the fortitude to visit nine.
In the month of Aug., two more shops opened, next to each other, in a small street, where vendors mostly sell fruit, along with hawker food stalls.. Oh, and a newly opened Sauna, might be looking for impulse buys from the Sauna patrons.

One highly visible trend, Pu-erh is the predominate tea for sale. Three years ago it was Green / Oolongs with a smattering of Pu-erh. One wholesaler in Shenzhen is now at about 97% Pu-erh. Vs at my estimate, of two years ago it was 50-50.