Back to the Republic of China to open a department store

After arriving in Guangzhou, the Li family warmly entertained Luo Xiazhi and his party as hosts, and they enjoyed Lingnan cuisine and southern customs.

A few days later, Luo Xiazhi and Liang Shaolong split up.

Because he wanted to inspect the spinning mill in Shunde, Liang Shaolong was taken directly to Foshan by the advisory group sent by Li Zhaoye.During this period, the textile industry in Shunde, Guangdong was very developed, no less than the traditional textile industry in Jiangnan.Shunde spinning women workers are famous all over the country for their hard work, hard work and fashionable thinking.Liang Shaolong wanted to use Foshan as a base to plan for going to Nanyang to open up overseas markets in the future.

And Luo Xiazhi and Li Ye followed Li Zhaoye and continued to go south to Hong Kong.

Similar to how the Luo family basically controlled the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas through marriage and annexation, the Li family also spent two generations developing their own huge business empire in Lingnan.

In addition to the fact that the boss of the Li family married an American woman himself, the children of the second Li family brother also married local gentry and celebrities, firmly rooting the power of the Li family.It is said that two daughters of the Li family were married to the governor of Hong Kong and the Dato of Portugal respectively, and a nephew who returned from studying in the UK even married a European woman with a title—although she was a widow.

When Luo Xiazhi was in his "last life", he once traveled to Hong Kong with a group to accompany his mother, Ms. Wu.

Seriously, I don't like it very much.

However, this [-]% has a lot to do with him signing up for a low-price travel shopping group. Basically, he went around in various gold stores and health care products stores. Pack fire.

In addition, I have long been used to seeing high-rise buildings and bright lights in Shanghai, so I am not surprised or fond of the streets and alleys of Hong Kong.Besides, if you really want to go shopping, what things can’t be bought online...

He did not expect to see Hong Kong for 100 years in this life, but he found it very interesting.

At this time, Hong Kong was not as prosperous as Shanghai Beach, and it was just a small city under British colonial rule.Everything is based on Shanghai as the learning object. Walking on the road and looking at the arcades and streets and the clothes of people on the road, if the Cantonese voice is not completely different from Wu Nong's soft language, it almost makes people think that they have really returned to Shanghai.

The "Modern Department Store" opened by the Li brothers in Hong Kong is located on the boundary of Causeway Bay. It is not like the seven-story building in Shanghai. It has only five floors, but it is also extraordinary.This season is still cold in Shanghai, and it is absolutely impossible to go up to the roof, but the roof of the top floor of the modern department store in the tropics is already crowded with people.

Luo Xiazhi bought a bouquet of frangipani flowers, a local specialty, on the rooftop. Listening to the sad Cantonese opera on the rooftop, all the experiences made him feel novel.

It may be because of the special conditions here. Compared with the subsidiary in Shanghai that only sells goods, the headquarters of this modern department store, first of all, most of the goods sold are imported from Britain and Portugal; second, in the department store, except Selling goods, they actually also carry out insurance and real estate business!

When he saw the signboards of "Modern Insurance Company" and "Modern Real Estate Company" in front of the guide on the fifth floor, Luo Xiazhi couldn't believe his eyes.

"Haha, Brother Luo, how are you doing?"

It was rare for Li Zhaoye to see the surprised look of the Shanghai department store tycoon, and he patted him on the shoulder triumphantly, "To tell you the truth, this is my elder brother's idea. He said that although the department store is good, it looks like a brocade , very lively. But my Li family lives and lives in the financial and real estate industries. What do you think of my elder brother?"

Knowing the amazing development of Hong Kong's real estate and finance in the future, Rorschach slowly turned his head and gave a thumbs up.

He finally understood why rich people are rich—they had this kind of vision and courage 100 years ago!

One word - service!

Luo Xiazhi's visit to Hong Kong this time is to determine its development prospects.

Although he has the "golden finger" of historical knowledge, Luo Xiazhi still dare not directly make large-scale investments without confirming it with his own eyes. After all, he still wants to keep better resources in the mainland and stay in Shanghai in private.

Now it seems that whether it is to leave a retreat for the Luo family or based on the perspective of commercial investment, there are indeed places worth investing in in this shopping mall in Hong Kong.

It was rare to go back to his hometown, and Li Zhaoye had a lot of entertainment to deal with, so Luo Xiazhi and Li Ye, under the guidance of the guide, began to stroll around Xiangjiang City slowly.

"Third Master, is there any news from the uncle?"

Li Ye supported the sunglasses and straw hat that Luo Xiazhi had newly bought for him, facing the warm southern sun, he followed Luo Xiazhi and asked.

"Well, Ah Le is out of danger. Although he already knew that Sixth Sister almost killed him, but he still can't accept it at all. His parents have already rushed to Shanghai from Chongming Island to take care of him."

Speaking of Ale, Luo Xiazhi really has a love-hate relationship.This silly boy is like this, and he still feels that Luo Minmin was wronged, dragging his half-breathed body and wanting to go to the detention center to question her.

It's a pity that in Luo Minmin's heart, he is just a villain who spoiled her good deeds.

After hearing this, Li Ye lowered his eyelids desolately.

After knowing Ale's feelings for Luo Minmin, he actually felt that he could understand Ale's thoughts and feelings.Because they are all so humble, holding an impossible love, and regurgitating this sweet bitterness in unknown places.

Even, compared to A Le, his love is more hopeless.

Holding the straw hat, Li Ye bit her lip and continued walking behind Luo Xiazhi.

At this time, Hong Kong's business district was not what it would be a hundred years later, and it was not as large as Shanghai at the same time.

After spending a day walking through several bustling streets, Luo Xiazhi asked Li Ye to make an investigation report to him in the next few days, the topic was the feasibility of developing a department store here and other business directions. possible.

This was the first time that Luo Xiazhi had given him such an important job. Li Ye knew that this was Luo Xiazhi's test of himself, so in the next few days, he began to work without sleep or food.

----------------

Luo Xiazhi is working hard to expand the territory of the business empire in Hong Kong, and the Shimai Department Store in Shanghai has finally "resurrected from the ashes" after three months of reconstruction.

On the reopening day, although Luo Yunze presided over the whole process and Luo Xiazhi himself was not present, the people of Shanghai could tell at a glance that there were Luo Xiazhi's "ingenuity" everywhere in the remodeled building.

The first is the ground floor.

Originally, there were only two commercial windows consisting of floor-to-ceiling glass on both sides of the main entrance, and a small number of display products were placed.After this renovation, bright glass windows have been installed on the entire inner side of the original arcade on the first floor and around the department store.Every window has been carefully designed to display the latest goods of the season very beautifully.

What's even more astonishing is that on that day, in the window on the side with the best traffic at the entrance of the city, the barber actually performed haircuts and perms for the salesgirls of Shimai Department Store on the spot.

Curious people stood outside the glass window and looked at the young and beautiful saleswomen. A "butterfly" flew out of this head, and an "auspicious cloud" was woven in front of that forehead, which was more beautiful than the female stars in pictorials. Looks good, pointing excitedly, can't wait to rush to the refurbished hairdressing salon on the fifth floor to get a new hairstyle.

After blowing their heads, the salesgirls did not leave, but walked into the cosmetics display window next door, picked up the cosmetics on the display stand without shyness, and began to apply makeup and powder to make the already delicate faces even more beautiful. stand up.

"Mom, I want to buy lipstick..."

A six or seven-year-old girl sitting on her father's shoulder said while looking at the window.

"purchase!"

Before her mother could say anything, her father, who had already watched the child fascinated, agreed loudly.

The saleswoman who had finished her make-up continued to walk behind a window that was tightly covered by a curtain, making everyone look up curiously.

After a while, the curtain fell to the floor, and the salesperson, who was wearing a light blue cheongsam embroidered with white orchids, leaned her body on the wooden model beside her gracefully and grinned.The wooden figure is also wearing the same style of cheongsam as her, which is the new spring style recommended by the magazine "SMART" a few days ago.

"Okay! Interesting! It seems that this is Luo Sanye's idea!"

The people outside the window cheered happily.

Originally, they were worried that Mr. Luo did not attend the opening ceremony, and whether it would be true that Mr. Luo was put under house arrest and seized power as the rumors said.

Seeing this, they were completely relieved. At this time, the "principal" of Mai Department Store was still Luo Sanye, and Luo Sanye and Uncle Luo were very good!Aren't the newspapers full of rumors?

The crowd followed the saleswoman's footsteps around the first-floor window.

Watching her sitting on the new leather sofa in the "living room" drinking this year's new Longjing tea for a while, making biscuits in the "kitchen" with an oven imported from foreign countries, and then going into the "salon" to fiddle with the radio, and finally He actually came to the "bedroom" and lay down on the big Simmons bed covered with new sheets...

It wasn't until the curtain fell slowly that everyone realized it - they just walked around the street, and they visited all the main products of Shimai Department Store this season.

"I didn't think those things were so good at first, but after looking at them, I wanted to buy them. I don't know why..."

Facing an interview with a newspaper reporter, a middle-aged woman said in confusion.Behind her was her husband, who was carrying big bags and small bags, with a pained expression on his face.

Afterwards, Luo Xiazhi, who read the newspaper, said: Sister, you don't know that there will be something called "live broadcast" in the future, and that's what makes people want to "sell their hands" after reading it.

In addition to the major changes in the first floor window, the fifth floor and above floors have also been re-arranged.

On the basis of keeping the area roughly unchanged, the hairdressing salon has added a women's beauty department beside it, providing various massage, maintenance, beauty, manicure and on-site make-up items.

The first batch of students of the Charity Girls School where Bai Fenghuang was the honorary principal, many of them learned crafts and worked here after graduation, hoping to have a skill in the future.

The original Cantonese restaurant was demolished, and Luo Xiazhi's long-awaited travel agency - Shimai International Travel Service was opened here.

The travel agency currently provides agent booking of boat tickets, train tickets, hotels, air tickets and even Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai group tours and Yangtze River cruise tours.Before Luo Xiazhi went south to Hong Kong, Luo Yunze had already sent people to sign cooperation contracts for company travel and accommodation with several trading companies and companies in Shanghai.It's a pity that there is no concept of employee team building at present, otherwise we can develop some new tricks.

The store opened on the fifth floor is for general individual customers. VIP guests can enjoy telephone booking and door-to-door explanation services.The travel company not only accepts Chinese tourists, but also provides services for foreign tourists. The waiters can speak English proficiently, and some even speak French and German.

Naturally, the first batch of tour guides and store attendants here are mainly graduates of the Charity Girls School.Their beautiful uniforms were designed by Luo Xiazhi based on the uniforms of the flight attendants in the future, and were sponsored by Liang Shaolong's Feilong Garment Factory.

It is said that because the uniform including the top hat, gloves, and scarf was too beautiful, under the strong request of many customers, it was slightly modified and sold directly in the women's clothing department in the form of a ready-to-wear set—this is probably the so-called "Overcome temptation".

In addition, a small theater has been opened on the fifth floor, which can accommodate more than 200 people.Shimai Department Store is willing to spend a lot of money to invite famous actors, so the "Qian Kun Stage" on the rooftop has always been very popular.However, in rainy and snowy weather, the performance cannot be performed smoothly, and the audience will be disappointed.

Therefore, during the renovation this time, a modern stage was specially built here.Different from ordinary theaters in ordinary theaters and guild halls, this small theater refers to the most advanced foreign stage design, with echo equipment, professional lighting, spring seats, a lifting stage and even heating and cooling air conditioning.

The premiere was performed on the day the department store reopened.The famous Shanghai opera actor Wang Husheng stood on the lifting mechanism and slowly rose to the center of the stage. The lights shone on him from above, attracting everyone's attention.As soon as he opened his mouth, the lingering effect made the fans mesmerized, and praised Wang Husheng's level of improvement overnight, which is simply miraculous.How did they know that this was the effect of the sound equipment armed to the wall.

However, due to the huge investment, the tickets for the theater were stripped from the rooftop, and additional tickets had to be purchased.Even so, because the stage effect is so good, the actors are willing to come to sing, and the fans are also willing to come here to join in the show, and the reputation of "Qiankun Theater" has become a hit.

In addition to various operas and farces, this theater also staged Western music performances that were rarely seen in Shanghai at that time.It provides a good place for music fans who like western classical music.

As for the office on the sixth floor, it was severely burned, and financial information and company files over the years were burned, causing irreparable losses.Luo Xiazhi has nothing to do about it, and can only order to pay attention to strengthening fire prevention measures and adding more isolation equipment when redecorating, so as to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

In this era before the invention of the automatic fire alarm, if you want to stay away from Zhu Rong, you can only rely on yourself to guard against it.

The seventh floor, which was originally only used as a staff cafe, has completely ushered in the rebirth of Nirvana this time.

First of all, a western food club was opened up—Left Bank Style, which serves authentic French dishes.

For this reason, Luo Yunze also spent a lot of money to hire a French chef from the war-torn Europe to be the head chef.And the chefs from the well-known Red House Western Food Club were also recruited.

On the opening day of the western food club, many Shanghai petty bourgeoisie youths who are obsessed with French style came here. Under the whisper of French chanson, they drank the wine brought by air and indulged in the romance of Paris.After eating Western food, go to the theater downstairs to listen to music, it is simply not too "cozy"!

On the other side of the seventh floor, a glass radio station was built.

Yes, radio stations!

After owning its own magazine, Shimai Department Store also has its own radio station!

If you want to ask what is the most popular thing in Shanghai in the past two years, it is definitely the establishment of a private radio station.

This trend of opening radio stations was imported from the Americans, and it quickly became popular in this era of lack of entertainment.With the popularity and price reduction of radio, this entertainment has also spread from the enjoyment of a wealthy few to millions of households.

In addition to state-run and municipal radio stations, privately-owned radio stations have also sprung up in the past two years, and there are even foreign-language stations for foreigners who do not understand Mandarin.

How convenient was the private radio station at that time?

——If you are walking in the alley and passing by a family, before you even intend to speak, someone will make a silent gesture to you.When you walk in and take a look, you will find that every door and window of this family’s house is hung with thick cotton curtains, and there are faint voices and singing voices coming from inside, it may be a private radio station in a residential area up.

The radio equipment can be bought or rented, and well-off families can afford it. After applying for a call sign, setting the hertz and frequency, the broadcast can officially start.

The most important thing in Shanghai is idlers with money. A few small bosses and a few young ladies can set up a private radio station based on a momentary interest.Or singing Pingtan, or telling stories, and never thought about making a profit. When you lose interest in playing, turn around and hand over the equipment.Various radio clubs also abound, and they even have their own journals.

The radio station of Shimai Department Store was conceived under such a background.

After Luo Xiazhi discovered that the sales of radio counters had increased sharply in the previous year, he moved to start a radio station—what TV kid would not want to start a TV station that broadcasts cartoons and martial arts dramas every day when he was a child?

But there are still many years before the invention of television, so let's start a radio station and have fun first.

Luo Yunze knew that his son had been looking forward to this radio station for a long time, so the radio station did not "open the mic" on the opening day of the department store.Thick black curtains cover the large floor-to-ceiling glass, waiting for the owner to lift the curtain with his own hands.But it also makes people who come and go wonder what is inside.

For this radio station, the rooftop has also been rebuilt.

In order to make the radio waves spread farther and cover a larger area, the original rooftop clock tower was replaced by a square hollow high platform. The transmitting antenna on the high platform went straight into the sky to ensure that it could be received by home radio even in Suzhou. A signal from Shimai Department Store.

The height of the high platform itself is as high as a three-story building, plus the seven-story building below, which is not low, but from the perspective of visual effects, it is higher than the newly built nine-story Sakura Department Store next door. !

Cherry Blossom Department Store is the tallest building on the main road because it is nine stories high, so it calls itself "Jiuzhongtian".

And at this time, Mai's new roof, once repaired, was higher than "Jiuzhongtian", and unexpectedly got another nickname of "Tianwaitian".

When Luo Xiazhi returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong and started to host the radio station, he simply adhered to the "bringing principle" and called his newly opened radio station "Tianwaitian Radio Station".

Around this tower, Shimai Department Store has rebuilt the rooftop garden and playground, and moved an Italian coffee shop to the top floor.Sitting in the colorful rooftop coffee shop, looking at the bustling Shiliyangchang downstairs at night, listening to the bells of the Customs Building from the Huangpu River, blowing the river breeze, and looking at the dazzling row of buildings on the Bund by the river A group is simply the supreme enjoyment of life.

Because the cafe has limited seats every day and is only open on sunny days, you have to make an appointment in advance to guarantee admission. Therefore, in Shanghai, being able to make an appointment at the rooftop cafe once became a test of whether a man is sincere in pursuing his girlfriend.

The grand event on the reopening day of Shimai Department Store has once again become famous far and wide through the help of the media.

Finally, after three months, this old department store, which was revived in the fire, re-entered the No.1 list of department stores in Shanghai.

Standing in his office on the eighth floor of Sakura Department Store, Luo Muze watched the tide of customers flooding diagonally opposite Shimai, and cursed viciously: Baga...

In order to show off in front of the Japanese shareholders and his father-in-law, Tsubaki Hei, he specially spent a lot of money to buy the small workers of Shimai Cantonese Restaurant, left a small cluster of flames before closing, and piled up some sundries by the stove in advance...

All this was done to ensure that during the opening period of Sakura Department Store, it could completely take away the passenger flow that originally belonged to Shimai Department Store.

He didn't pay attention to that modern department store from the very beginning.I feel that these two Cantonese guys are just followers who copied Rorschach's ideas.If he wants to be number one in the Shanghai Bund department store industry, Shimai Department Store is what he wants to destroy!

Unexpectedly, in only three months, the burned Shimai was rebuilt, and it was taller and more beautiful than the original one!

He went downstairs just now and found that today's passenger flow is less than a quarter of the previous one.These customers, who were obviously growing because of the cheap Japanese goods imported by Sakura Department Store and the Japanese-style thoughtful service, were all attracted by Shimai Department Store's flashy and gaudy promotional methods!

"Yoxi... If that's the case, then let's compare!"

Luo Muze thought that he had traveled to so many places, visited so many countries, and visited more department stores than his third brother who had never set foot outside the country. He would never lose to such a young boy!

The author has something to say: The Xinxin Department Store in old Shanghai, which is now the No. 24 Food Store, once opened its own radio station, broadcasting [-] hours a day.In this Internet age, few people realize the beauty of broadcasting.I remember when I was in middle school and college, listening to radio programs every night was really fun, especially love stories (covering face), the whole dormitory listened to the radio together, I really miss it.

A preview of the next chapter "Secret Return to Shanghai", Xiaoxia is coming back from Hong Kong to show off~

Ah, my collection really is. . . .A dozen or twenty are lost every day. . .I lost all confidence.

I haven't written a novel for a long time. This is my reconstruction work. I didn't expect the grades to be so bad. Hey... But I will try my best to finish writing according to the established outline.