Coronavirus Scare Leaves China’s Empty Restaurants Selling Off Stocks

A customer wearing a face mask buys vegetables from a stall set up by a hotpot restaurant outside its outlet in central Beijing, following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, on Feb. 13, 2020. Tingshu Wang/Reuters

BEIJING—Wang Chuanchao shuttered his restaurant in central Beijing three weeks ago as the scare over the coronavirus outbreak in country kept customers away and now he’s reduced to selling off vegetables on the street outside to cut losses.

Anticipating packed tables at his 125-seater restaurant over the Lunar New Year, Wang says he bought in 300,000 yuan (nearly $43,000) worth of ingredients, ranging from celery to ox tripe. Now, he has to find ways to pay the rent, and his staff, so he can re-open for business once his customers find the courage to come back.