Compared to established malls like Huanyu Tianjie and Yuanda Tiandi, Jinsheng Plaza was relatively young, having just opened in the previous year, 2011.

Pei Qian remembered that when he first visited Yuanda Tiandi, Jinsheng Plaza across the street was still in its final stage of renovation.

But even though a year had passed since its opening, Jinsheng Plaza was still not particularly famous in Jingzhou, and its sales volume could hardly compare with Yuanda Tiandi’s.

Despite being just a street apart, the foot traffic going to Yuanda Tiandi was obviously much greater than that of Jinsheng Plaza.

The reasons for this were complex.

One reason was that one of Jingzhou’s few subway lines led directly to Yuanda Tiandi’s basement, while customers wanting to take the subway to Jinsheng Plaza would need to walk out from Yuanda Tiandi, or get off at another station and then walk for ten minutes.

Additionally, Yuanda Tiandi had been open longer and had more major brands. Many nearby customers had formed habits, subconsciously believing that Yuanda Tiandi was better than Jinsheng Plaza. So even though they were only a street apart, people were too lazy to cross over.

Most people found it tiresome enough to explore one mall, let alone having the energy to explore two.

Furthermore, with the GPL League being hosted at Yuanda Tiandi, the customer flow there completely overwhelmed Jinsheng Plaza.

Of course, after the GPL League matches began, since Yuanda Tiandi couldn’t accommodate all the visitors from across the country, and its restaurants were often full, some people did come to Jinsheng Plaza, increasing foot traffic here.

But overall, it was still a case of one eating meat while the other drank soup.

Jinsheng Plaza positioned itself as a shopping center focused on “youth, fashion, and creativity,” which was reflected in its architectural style.

The building was shaped like a square with one corner indented. The indented area faced the intersection, corresponding with Yuanda Tiandi across the street.

At this indented position, the lower part was the plaza entrance, while the upper part featured a huge semicircular area, giving the entire building a style that combined angles and curves, creating a very modern feel.

The exterior of this circular platform was entirely made of huge glass curtain walls, extending to the other two outer walls of the building, looking like one enormous window, extremely grand.

Pei Qian frowned slightly, because he remembered that the last time he came, this area was completely covered up and didn’t seem to be open to the public.

This was the first time he had seen the true face of this place.

Liang Qingfan explained: “I asked about it. This area was originally planned to use glass curtain walls extensively to attract attention. But because it was the most technically challenging part of the entire building, and the owner of Jinsheng Plaza wasn’t satisfied with the earlier results, even a year after Jinsheng Plaza opened, this area was still undergoing continuous repairs. The entire area was closed off and not receiving customers.”

“But now it’s completely finished!”

“When I saw this place, I really liked it, so I talked with the owner of Jinsheng Plaza.”

“When he heard that Tenda wanted to open its first large-scale experience store here, he was very welcoming and fully supportive! Not only did he sign a long-term lease at 60% of the original rent, but he also promised us half a year of rent-free operation.”

“Of course, just this area alone isn’t enough. This semicircular area is only a bit over 2,000 square meters. Even adding the areas that couldn’t accommodate shops due to the construction, several floors together only amount to about 5,000 square meters, which obviously doesn’t meet your previous requirements.”

“So, I asked the mall if they could make space from the surrounding shops as much as possible—the more, the better.”

“The mall tried every means and managed to gather about another 2,000 square meters for us. These areas are distributed from the first floor to the top floor, but basically near the escalators close to this area.”

“In total, it’s 7,000 square meters. Although it’s still far from your previous maximum target of 10,000 square meters, I considered that since this is a core commercial area, squeezing out such a large space would be difficult. Besides, 7,000 square meters should be enough for a long time, so I accepted.”

“Because this area was previously under construction, there weren’t many shops. After friendly negotiations, the shops that had already moved in were relocated to slightly more distant vacant spaces. Of course, the mall ultimately provided some compensation—the spaces became a bit larger, but the rent didn’t increase.”

Pei Qian was dazed.

“Wait, did you just say 60% of the original rent, half a year rent-free, and they even drove away the surrounding shops?”

“Tell me honestly, is this mall part of Shenhua Real Estate? Or does Mr. Li have shares in it?”

This preferential treatment automatically reminded Pei Qian of those unforgettable past experiences at Shenhua Luxury View.

Liang Qingfan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: “No, Mr. Pei, why would you think that?”

Tian Mo was also puzzled: “These conditions are incredibly favorable! Sixty percent of the original rent—if calculated over five or ten years, how much money would that be?”

Liang Qingfan smiled: “Is 60% that much?”

“To be honest, if I didn’t like this place so much, especially the glass curtain wall, I would have negotiated for a couple more days and haggled the price down even further!”

“Jinsheng Plaza understands very clearly that Tenda brings more than just rent—it brings enormous foot traffic!”

“Across the street, Yuanda Tiandi hosts the GPL League. GOG players from all over the country come to watch matches and spend money there. How much foot traffic is that?”

“But the subway exit is at Yuanda Tiandi, and Yuanda Tiandi’s restaurants and shops are generally better quality than Jinsheng Plaza’s, so the vast majority of customer flow is intercepted by Yuanda Tiandi, with very few people actually coming to Jinsheng Plaza.”

“For Jinsheng Plaza, they invested a huge sum to build this building, but can’t attract customers. How much of a loss is that?”

“But if our Tenda experience store opens here, the situation becomes completely different!”

“Through the glass curtain wall, people on the street, or even in shops on the outer side of Yuanda Tiandi, can clearly see the entire view of Tenda’s experience store!”

“And those who come to watch the GPL League, won’t they come over for a look?”

“Without the Tenda experience store, being separated by a street is like being separated by heaven and earth. But with the Tenda experience store, crossing the street is just a two-minute walk. The difference is enormous!”

“It’s like Pineapple Phone’s retail stores—they can get extremely favorable rent in malls in any city, and no mall dares to arbitrarily raise their rent, precisely because Pineapple Phone’s retail stores attract a large number of shoppers and can increase the mall’s average sales by 10%.”

“Which is more important: slightly higher rent or an additional 10% in sales? This is a multiple-choice question that even an elementary school student wouldn’t get wrong.”

“Although Tenda might not reach this level in other cities, in Jingzhou, especially next to the GPL venue in Yuanda Tiandi, and as the first large-scale experience store, we do have this kind of bargaining power.”

“Moreover, the reason other shops are so cooperative is that they also know Tenda’s presence will bring them good foot traffic. If their refusal caused us to ultimately choose another location, they would lose out.”

“That’s why these shops are willing to make space for us. Even if their new locations are a bit inferior, with the foot traffic we bring and the compensation from the mall, they actually come out ahead!”

“Besides that, the mall owner has decided to invest in building a pedestrian overpass here, directly connecting the entrance of Yuanda Tiandi to the entrance of Jinsheng Plaza! This overpass will be a transparent aerial corridor with escalators, allowing customers from across the street to come over smoothly regardless of wind or rain!”

After hearing Liang Qingfan’s explanation, Tian Mo was shocked.

He had known that Tenda had a significant influence in Jingzhou, but he never imagined it would reach this extent.

Not only was the mall enthusiastically welcoming them, giving them the green light, and bustling about to help, even the shops inside were willingly cooperating!

They had squeezed out 7,000 square meters of space in a mall located in the city center!

This kind of thing couldn’t be accomplished just with money.

Tian Mo couldn’t help but look at Mr. Pei with extreme admiration, even reverence.

Mr. Pei’s personality was very approachable, so after spending time together, there was a natural sense of closeness. But one outrageous feat after another constantly reminded Tian Mo that Mr. Pei only seemed easygoing but was actually a true big shot.

Take the current situation—Tian Mo was already beyond shocked, yet Mr. Pei remained expressionless, showing no sign of surprise.

Supposedly, wasn’t this Mr. Pei’s first visit too? Shouldn’t he have known nothing about these matters before?

Yet he remained completely calm.

Obviously, similar situations had occurred many times, and Mr. Pei was long accustomed to them.

Tian Mo couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—he had seen too little of the world!

He needed to learn from Mr. Pei to remain unshaken even if a mountain collapsed before him.

As for Zhuang Dong, he clearly hadn’t fully understood what Liang Qingfan was saying, only feeling that it seemed impressive.

If there were a comment section right now, he would probably be mindlessly spamming “666” along with Tian Mo.

However, Pei Qian was actually shocked by Liang Qingfan’s words and had temporarily fallen into a daze.

Sixty percent of the original rent, half a year rent-free, and the entire mall, including shops, voluntarily making space, combined with previously unopened areas, forcibly creating numerous stores totaling over 7,000 square meters spanning several floors!

Not only that, but the mall owner was also paying out of his own pocket to create a transparent pedestrian overpass!

For Pei Qian, this was undoubtedly multiple pieces of terrible news!

Not only had they saved a huge amount on rent, but because of the location, the massive glass curtain wall and the soon-to-be-completed pedestrian overpass would continuously attract customers from Yuanda Tiandi across the street!

Thinking of it this way, this experience store would have been better off inside Yuanda Tiandi!

The foot traffic would still be high, but in Yuanda Tiandi, the rent would definitely be much higher, and they absolutely couldn’t gather 7,000 square meters—at most, they might have scraped together an area of one or two thousand square meters.

How could it be like now, where they had secured foot traffic, space, and savings all at once!

Wasn’t this just making it more difficult for the sales team to discourage customers?!

Pei Qian gave Tian Mo a meaningful look, as if to say, “Liang Qingfan’s choice of location has really screwed me over—it’s all up to you now.”

Tian Mo immediately nodded, understanding: “Mr. Pei, rest assured, I will definitely do a good job with the experience store and absolutely won’t let such a good location go to waste!”

Pei Qian: “…”

After brewing his thoughts for a long while, he ultimately had nothing to say and could only look at Liang Qingfan and say: “Fine, let’s go inside and take a look.”