National Tide 1980

After paying the money and completing all the formalities, I walked out of the post office.

Ning Weimin looked at the watch on his wrist. It was already eleven o'clock.

As a restaurant owner, he actually doesn't like the bustling scene when there are overcrowded customers, and prefers a relatively quiet dining environment.

He thought for a moment, and although he wasn't particularly hungry, he decided to eat first so as to avoid the peak meal period for office workers.

Because he had to go to Nishi-Azabu later, Ning Weimin walked south along the road in front of the Akasaka Post Office.

If I don’t find a place to eat, I plan to take the bus to Nishi-Azabu where there are various restaurants and bars.

As a result, after walking more than a hundred meters, he was attracted by the Japanese classical music that came from time to time on the roadside.

I turned around and saw that the music playing was from a Marunobu store.

Next to the store, there is a ramen restaurant with a variety of noodles on display in the window.

Some noodles are topped with egg slices and bamboo shoots, some are topped with pieces of gristle meat and vegetable leaves, and some are topped with fried Japanese dumplings, all made of wax sculptures.

Colorful, very lifelike, like a work of art, emitting an alluring brilliance.

At this time, Ning Weimin's appetite was not only aroused, but he also wanted to ask the boss about the origin of these food wax sculptures.

In this regard, there is a need for him to open a restaurant.

It is completely instinct for business people to look for things that are beneficial to their business everywhere.

So licking his lips, Ning Weimin opened the curtain at the door and walked in.

As expected, there were no customers in the ramen restaurant at this time. The owner of the noodle restaurant was quite free, and he was very polite and attentive to Ning Weimin.

He nodded and bowed, poured water and handed chopsticks. He was also very enthusiastic about Ning Weimin's inquiries about wax sculptures. The boss wrote down the address and contact number of the wax sculpture production company in his own hand.

Since others were so polite, Ning Weimin was embarrassed to be stingy.

He ordered the more expensive pork cheek ramen and the Tang Yang chicken nuggets to go with it.

The reason why he didn't ask for fried dumplings, which is generally regarded as the best friend of ramen in Japan, was because he really didn't have much interest.

The dumplings he made himself were much more delicious.

Besides, six of these craps cost 390 yen, which was enough for him to buy a piece of clothing at the flea market.

He is not the rich second generation who relies on his father to become an Internet celebrity and start a company. When paying for meals, he never asks the price and just throws out a round number.

His money is hard-earned and has many serious uses.

And to be honest, the standard of this ramen shop is quite average.

The broth was mediocre, the noodles were cooked so-so, and the barbecued pork was a little tough.

To put it bluntly, the soft-boiled eggs are just okay, and the pickled red plum in the noodle bowl is quite special and very satisfying.

Although Ning Weimin also felt hot in the ears and itchy in the scalp, and felt a little sweaty, he felt a little regretful that he had entered the wrong door.

He thought that a meal that cost 1,300 yen was not worth it.

This price is purely because the store is located in the city center. Otherwise, if it were located in the outer suburbs, the meal would only cost 900 yen at most.

If their Tan Palace chef comes, he can just boil a pot of broth and cook noodles and he can kill this restaurant instantly.

Come on, consider it a consulting fee.

After finishing an unsatisfactory meal, Ning Weimin walked out of the noodle shop again. At this time, his mood turned a little gloomy again. The joy of sending the package to his master just now was gone.

You know, a person's stomach is in his right center. Of course he won't be happy if he doesn't eat well.

What's more, he has to face another problem that needs to be solved urgently.

That's what to do with the bookstore he bought?

Speaking of which, the location of this bookstore is absolutely no problem.

Ning Weimin visited Japan in his previous life, and a domestic tour guide once made a general evaluation of some of the most prosperous commercial places in Tokyo.

It is said that Shibuya, which is full of popular culture, is called the "high school student street", Shinjuku, with its many nightclubs, is called the "young people's street", and Ginza, where the rich and famous come and go, is called the "adult street", and it is adjacent to the embassy district. Roppongi, full of foreign culture, is called the "Western Street".

In fact, the bookstore is located in Nishi-Azabu 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, which is similar to Roppongi.

You know, the Azabu area and Roppongi are connected to each other.

Near Ning Weimin's bookstore, there are also many embassies and international schools.

As a result, there are many high-end restaurants and nightclubs here. It is also a place where movies and TV dramas are often filmed, and every inch of land is precious.

If we have to talk about the difference between Nishi-Azabu and Roppongi, it is that although Roppongi is the most famous and prosperous, the main customer base is young people.

At night, Roppongi is filled with drunken foreigners, noisy college students, company employees who urinate unscrupulously, young people arguing over trivial matters, young girls vomiting in the middle of the street, and defiant people. Lovers kissing passionately and so on.

Not only was it noisy, but it was also dirty. There were always cigarette butts everywhere and needed to be cleaned overnight.

Nishiazabu is more suitable for older age groups.

It's relatively quiet, not too noisy, and the environment is much cleaner.

Especially because there are many "platforms" suitable for construction and there are many high-end residential areas, it is more livable.

Therefore, it would be great to open high-end restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and luxury stores on Nishi-Azabu Street.

It's not bad to open a pet shop or a video store, or even a lounge or gallery will keep the business going.

However, opening a bookstore is not satisfactory, because almost all the people wandering on this street come for parties and consumption. Who would go to a bookstore to wander around?

There are quite a few students, but most of them are foreigners and children of wealthy Japanese families.

Basically, everyone is picked up and dropped off by cars at home, and they belong to the class where most of them started out with a Mercedes-Benz and would be embarrassed to say hello to others even if they drove an Audi.

Of course, students with such a family environment cannot come here to read comic books or buy exam textbooks.

Ning Weimin didn't even have to go in. Just standing at the door of his bookstore, he could feel how embarrassing it was for the "Huiwentang Bookstore", which was founded in 1891, to be on this street.

It has an Italian restaurant on the left and a high-end barbecue restaurant on the right.

Because it was meal time, every restaurant was busy and crowded.

Only in Huiwen Hall, there was not a single guest.

This even gave Ning Weimin an absurd feeling, feeling that this bookstore was like the enchanted Order of the Phoenix in Harry Potter, which existed but was ignored.

Looking across the street, a traditional Japanese confectionery shop with a facade as old as Huiwen Tang was also packed with customers, and boxes of souvenirs were sold.

The popularity is similar to that of "Daoxiang Village" which has just been relaunched in Beijing.

Standing here, Ning Weimin felt even more speechless, because they were all old shops, look at how miserable Hui Wen Tang was.

However, there are people who are more embarrassed than Ning Weimin, and that is the two clerks in the bookstore.

Because Ning Weimin at least understands one thing, if the business situation of the bookstore is not so bad.

If it weren't for the fact that the bookstore owner is getting older and doesn't want to waste time switching careers to open a fashionable store.

If he hadn't been willing to accept a premium purchase and promised to the bookstore owner, he would have continued to hire two college students who worked part-time in the store until they completed their studies.

There is no chance that a shop in such a good location would fall into his hands.

The clerks in the bookstore didn't know this. They just thought that Ning Weimin had been taken advantage of and impulsively bought a money-losing product at a high price.

Moreover, the new boss is a third-world Chinese with no experience in opening a bookstore. It has been half a month since he bought the store, but he has not come up with any ideas to change the business situation.

If the losses continue like this, God knows how long this new boss can last?

They might break their promise and change hands of the bookstore, which would ruin their jobs.

So as soon as Ning Weimin opened the door and walked in, the two clerks who were taking over the shift, Oda and Yoshii, immediately put down what they were doing and bowed to Ning Weimin with fear.

Almost in unison, they said, "Hello, boss! Thank you for your hard work!"

Ning Weimin bowed slightly and returned the greeting, "You have worked hard too. How has the situation been in the store these two days?"

Oda is older and has just been admitted to graduate school. He immediately reported his income in the past two days, "I sold two books in two days on the weekend. But it rained yesterday. At noon and afternoon, several customers came to the store to take shelter from the rain. So I sold some more books, totaling 21,200 yen. Do you need them? I'll give them to you."

"What kind of books are being sold? Are they study books and comic books?"

"Ah... no. What we sell are travel and lifestyle products, as well as magazines and so on."

"As expected, then... just give me that 'Yuyoshi' (the character on the 10,000 yen bill is named Fukuzawa Yukichi), and leave the others in the store first. In case someone buys the book, You always have to change, right?”

Ning Weimin sighed and smiled secretly in his heart.

Although Japanese books are more expensive, the profit is only about 20%. In other words, the income is 4,000 yen in three days.

If you do this, even if the house belongs to you, it will still be a loss.

You must know that these two part-time college students are each paid 800 yen per hour.

Assuming that each person has five hours a day, the three days is 24,000 yen, and the living compensation is 20,000 yen.

If water and electricity were included, Ning Weimin would have to pay three to four hundred thousand yuan in compensation in one month, which was the full salary of two formal employees who had just started working.

How is this different from the store next door?

Not to mention that there is a backlog of books upstairs that the old owner of the bookstore valued at 100 million and sold to him. Most of them are study books, reference books, novels, and comics.

"Boss, do you have anything else? If not, I will go back. Yoshii will be responsible for looking after the store until five o'clock in the afternoon..."

Oda said a little shyly, after all, people who can work in bookstores are a bit introverted.

In the future, it will develop into a well-known specialty of Japan - otaku.

However, Ning Weimin stopped him, "Wait a minute, I have something important to talk to you two about. Can you leave a little later? I plan to take some necessary measures on the management method. I just want to be able to listen to you at the same time. We came here specifically at this time for our opinions."

As soon as these words were said, both Oda and Yoshii became nervous. They looked at each other and showed nervous expressions in silence.

Ning Weimin immediately saw that they had misunderstood and quickly explained.

"Relax, I don't want to fire you, nor do I want to cut your salary. After all, I promised your past boss, and I won't break my promise. And on the contrary, I want you to earn more money. Are you interested?"

"Huh?"

"Nani?"

The two Japanese college students, who had originally looked sad, were immediately relieved from their depression.

But they still looked at each other in disbelief and disbelief.

"It's like this. I plan to find a way to deal with the backlog of books. You two should be able to understand that when your former boss, Mr. Tomita, was running Huibuntang, there was no liquidity. And Mr. Tomita still had no liquidity. He is a very emotional person, and he never has the ability to refuse old friends from book wholesalers. This led to the store’s funds gradually turning into unsalable books and placing them upstairs. These books were calculated based on the market price. According to Mr. Tomita The list given to me is at least 100 million yen. We must completely change this situation now, and the top priority is to raise funds, so I plan to get rid of the inventory as soon as possible at a price of 50% off the market price. With this money, we will You can do something..."

"Boss, I'm sorry."

Yoshii suddenly interrupted before Ning Weimin finished speaking, "We are aware of the difficulties in the store. However, we seem to have discussed the issue of discount clearance before. Have you ignored the existence of 'reprints'? If you have forgotten, I have to remind you again. In order to protect bookstore operations and reduce competition in the industry, Japanese books are not allowed to be sold at discounts. So if we do this, it will be illegal..."

However, Ning Weimin didn't show any sign of hitting the wall, and instead thanked him gracefully.

"Yoshii, thank you very much. As expected of a college student studying law, he is very professional. But please relax, in fact, this problem is no longer a problem. I have consulted my lawyer in detail, and based on his advice, We can completely avoid legal problems. Because we are not offering discounts to customers who buy books, but recommending these books to our peers. I hope other bookstore owners can eat these goods."

Seeing that both Oda and Yoshii had enlightened expressions, Ning Weimin simply spoke out.

"You are all college students, so you should be familiar with many bookstores in Tokyo, right? So you must know which bookstores are more suitable for selling the books we stock. Is this good? You go and classify them and try to talk to those bookstore owners. , see if they are willing to buy some books from our store at a low price? The price of 50% off the market price should be attractive to them. "

"Also, you have all been working in Huiwen Hall for a while. Do you know the wholesale booksellers? I hope you can ask those booksellers if they are willing to buy back some at a low price. After all, our store still has New books will continue to be added, but there will be fewer categories. Even if the bookstore no longer belongs to Mr. Tomita, for the sake of our past friendship, and if we continue to deal with him in the future, we will give him face, right?"

"In short, we need to sell these books as soon as possible. This is a major issue related to whether the bookstore can improve its operations in the future. It is best to complete it within a month. As for the extra time it will take up from you, I will also give you extra compensation. . If you can really sell some books, then I will pay you a reward of 5% of the final amount we got. Give it as soon as you get the money, without any delay. Theoretically, the backlog of books upstairs If we sell it, there will be about 2.5 million yen that can be distributed to you. If you include the ones still on the bookshelves in the store, there may be 3 million yen for you. This is not a small help to you, right? "

To be honest, there was no need for Ning Weimin to analyze it so thoroughly.

I thought your arithmetic problems would be no problem for two college students.

If they can earn one million a month, it will be enough for their living expenses for a year.

Is this possible without enthusiasm for work?

So the saying that money can make the world go round began to work wonders in the land of the East.

The two Japanese youths, who were originally a little introverted, became excited at the same time after finding out that Ning Weimin was really not joking.

Yoshii immediately became active in his work and took the initiative to run upstairs to sort out the books.

Oda didn't return to school in time after work, but completely gave up on the cheap lunch in the cafeteria.

I bought some bread, took some book samples, and went on a business trip on my bicycle.

As for Ning Weimin, although his heart was bleeding over the loss of 50 million yen, the blood he vomited was enough to cost him his "box of money." But you still have to force a smile and face it all cruelly.

This is not only because he knows that this is the necessary premium he pays to buy this good store.

It is also because he knows better that the most important thing in doing business is that the flow of funds cannot be interrupted, and funds are the life of a businessman.

Don’t be afraid of how much you lose, as long as you try to make it back with money.

I am afraid that if I have something in my hand that I cannot sell, and if I have nothing to do with it, I will lose my chance of survival.

It would be better if he could quickly collect 50 million, invest it in the stock market to make money, and double the leverage.

It's better than watching your goods depreciate and cutting your flesh with a slow knife.

In addition, he also brought some small things, hoping to use Huiwentang's place to see how well the market would accept them.

This can be regarded as an attempt in multiple directions.

"Hey, Yoshii, there is one more thing to tell you. We have to sell something special in the future. Now, put these things in the window, get the best position, and take down the books originally placed. If there are customers If you see it, like it, and ask about it in the store, just tell them that it is a brooch from China, a handmade work. Do you understand? If anyone wants to buy it, it’s three thousand yen a piece.”

"Wow, it's so beautiful! Is the box so high-end? Okay, boss! I'll do it right away. But... what kind of material is this? Is it a gem? Is it too clear? Is it fragile?"

"Glass products, don't be so careful when handling them. They won't break easily during normal use. Do you think the price is expensive?"

"It's okay. Japanese girls nowadays often receive jewelry gifts. For the ladies in our school, a very ordinary silver bracelet costs 5,000 yen. Can both men and women wear this?"

"What you said makes sense, then it's four thousand yen."