A 10-space was larger than a counter in a state-owned store in the capital city. The monthly rent was still 2,500 yuan, a price that left Chen Xiliang speechless.
But thinking again, Old Duan and his group were anxious because they dealt in electronic products, while he sold clothing – they weren’t in the same business. If back when he was focused on wholesale clothing, and Yangcheng had built a clothing wholesale building, wouldn’t he have wanted to move in?
He would!
He would have gone crazy wanting to!
Street vendors often had to keep moving around, but moving into a proper business store meant they could operate 365 days a year without closing, unaffected by weather changes, with extended business hours… there were all kinds of benefits.
Putting himself in their shoes, Chen Xiliang immediately understood Old Duan’s position.
Seeing Old Duan shamelessly squeezing through the crowd with a pitiful look, Chen Xiliang felt sympathetic.
“This electronics plaza is so big, surely the people here can’t take all the shop spaces,” he muttered as he stepped back.
A man who also couldn’t squeeze through cursed loudly, “Exactly! With so many shop spaces, why not release them all at once instead of splitting them into three batches… wonder which despicable bastard came up with this dirty trick!”
Chen Xiliang froze as if someone had cast a spell on him.
This technique seemed very familiar!
Could that despicable bastard be Xiaolan?
Chen Xiliang now better understood why these people had nearly squeezed their pants off.
Those crowding here today were all individual merchants.
The truly powerful electronic product manufacturers didn’t need to squeeze through such crowds – with their strong capital, they could negotiate directly with the plaza management.
The individual merchants weren’t stupid; they had experienced firsthand that when a commodity becomes especially scarce, its market price rises!
Perhaps the Cheng Rong Plaza shops weren’t originally so scarce, but deliberately releasing them in three batches was artificially creating tension.
The first batch of small 10㎡ shops had an annual rent of 30,000 yuan.
If these were instantly snapped up, would the second batch of 10㎡ shops still rent for 30,000 yuan per year?
It might be 40,000 or 50,000.
For individual merchants, this meant significantly increased operating costs.
Concerned for his friend Old Duan, Chen Xiliang squeezed out of the crowd to find the Cheng Rong Plaza management.
“I’m Chen Xiliang from Yangcheng Luna.”
“Oh, have you completed the order that Manager Du rushed?”
“Almost, almost, but I have something else…”
Chen Xiliang couldn’t meet Du Zhaowei.
It wasn’t that Du Zhaowei was arrogant – on this day of Cheng Rong Plaza’s rental launch, Du Zhaowei needed to oversee everything and wasn’t at the scene.
At that moment, Du Zhaowei was at the city government, inviting city leaders to observe Cheng Rong Plaza’s rental launch scene.
Without the Pengcheng city government’s support, how could he make “Cheng Rong Plaza” become Pengcheng’s landmark? The claim of being Asia’s largest electronics plaza particularly pleased some city leaders.
Businessmen prove their abilities through capital, but what about government officials?
Naturally, through concrete achievements.
National first.
Asia’s first.
Such titles were achievements.
A few years later, when the health products tycoon Shi made considerable money and wanted to build a building under his company’s name, he initially just wanted to construct an ordinary building. The local government strongly supported star enterprises, successively approving 40,000 square meters of land for Shi at 125 yuan/㎡, or about 80,000 yuan per mu. This was in ’92, and the price was practically a gift! Consider that when Xia Xiaolan acquired land last summer, Pengcheng’s land price was already 200,000 per mu.
Shi received approval for 40,000 square meters at once, equivalent to 60 mu of land.
The original plan was for 38 floors.
Under government expectations, the building plans were repeatedly scrapped and heightened, aiming to reach 70 floors and become the nation’s tallest building!
Just to claim this “national first,” Shi found himself in too deep. Coinciding with national policy tightening that restricted pre-construction sales of “housing futures,” the 70-floor building required 1.2 billion in funding… Shi’s capital chain broke, the project dragged him down, and he instantly became “China’s first bankrupt”!
Du Zhaowei didn’t have such foresight.
But Xia Xiaolan did.
She knew how actively local governments would promote anything labeled “national first” or “Asia’s first.”
This “Asia’s first electronics plaza” appearing in Pengcheng perfectly matched the Pengcheng government’s expectations.
Xia Xiaolan gained inspiration from Shi’s incident, leading to Cheng Rong Plaza’s success. Du Zhaowei certainly couldn’t build a 70-floor high-rise – Du Chengrong only gave him 20 million Hong Kong dollars, not 200 million or 2 billion.
However, leveraging the concept of “Asia’s first electronics plaza,” Du Zhaowei secured strong support from the Pengcheng government, including extremely cheap land prices and green-lit bank loans. Even Xia Xiaolan’s promotional plan had government cooperation, like the full-page advertisement in Yangcheng Morning News and subsequent promotional methods – things a lone Hong Kong merchant couldn’t easily accomplish.
On the first day of the electronics plaza’s rental launch, Du Zhaowei naturally went to thank the leaders for their support.
Du Zhaowei wasn’t fighting alone; he needed to transform his interests into achievements that the local government equally desired. The electronics plaza aligned with government construction plans could generate substantial economic benefits, and could drive Pengcheng’s electronics manufacturing industry… naturally, the government would strongly support such projects!
Chen Xiliang couldn’t see through this point. He didn’t know Du Zhaowei but knew Xia Xiaolan.
With this connection, while Chen Xiliang couldn’t be treated as an honored guest by Du Zhaowei, he could at least connect with Cheng Rong Plaza’s management and secure a back-door opportunity for his friend Old Duan in the first batch of rentals.
“Old Duan, how big a shop space do you want?”
While Old Duan was dizzy from squeezing through crowds, Chen Xiliang had already secured an opportunity for him – Old Duan’s early morning visit to Chen Xiliang’s door hadn’t been in vain.
“I can choose myself?”
The plaza manager shook his head, “Some shops have already been paid for, and some are reserved. Your choices are limited, but considering Manager Chen’s face, I’ll give you two slots.”
Two was better than none – Old Duan was overjoyed.
From the available options, he picked two of the largest shops: one 40㎡ for 110,000, and another 20㎡ for 55,000.
Old Duan carried several tens of thousands in cash and immediately paid part of the deposit.
As the manager had finance issue the receipt, Old Duan asked:
“We can continue renting next year, right?”
“Current tenants have three years of usage rights. The shops will still be yours next year, and the rent won’t change!”
Thank Buddha – Old Duan finally felt completely at ease.
His ability to pay over a hundred thousand at once showed he’d earned well these years.
But earning money while constantly worried was different from earning it with peace of mind.
In high spirits, Old Duan didn’t feel hungry at all and took Chen Xiliang for a walk around Cheng Rong Plaza. “Look at this place – how could we not make money here?”
He was encouraging himself.
With annual rent costs increasing by over a hundred thousand, if the place couldn’t attract customers, all the individual merchants who rented would lose their shirts.
Understanding this was Xia Xiaolan’s handiwork, Chen Xiliang patted his friend Old Duan’s shoulder:
“You’re right – this plaza will make money!”