People line up at Guangmingcun, a time-honored food store that sells local snacks and famous dishes in Shanghai. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]

With the COVID-19 epidemic in China being steadily controlled, the flow of people on the Huaihai Road commercial street in Shanghai is on the rise.

Sales of many time-honored brands on Huaihai Road have reached about 80 percent of what they were over the same period in 2019, local media have reported.

At Guangmingcun Huaihai Road store, people are queuing to buy cooked food and semi-finished products. In addition to a "1-meter line" sign, Guangmingcun has also instructed its staff members to remind customers to maintain a safe distance.

Additionally, to adapt to the current situation, Guangmingcun recently opened an online ordering service. The store only accepted orders from offline stores in the past.

Another time-honored brand in Shanghai, the Harbin Food Factory, has also seen increasing customer flow recently.

Chen Zhizhao, manager of Harbin Food Factory's Huaihai Road store, said the store has never stopped innovating new products even during epidemic period. "At the end of last month, we came out with two different flavors of butterfly crisp, and they're selling well so far," said Chen.

To attract customers, some time-honored brands have also added sales promotions or turned to take-out platforms.