Zhang Yang curiously moved closer and discovered it was a shopfront selling phones, where a young guy was quarreling with a man in his fifties at the entrance.
"The lease agreement is very clear: once the lease is effective, the rent is non-refundable! How am I supposed to find another tenant if you cancel temporarily?"
"I'm negotiating with you, not forcing you to refund. There's something urgent at home, and I have no choice. I can't pay rent while leaving the place empty, right?"
"No refund, absolutely no refund! Not even if the sky falls—I won't refund. Go ahead and sue me! I have the contract, we'll follow what's in there!"
With those words, the old man turned around and went into the backyard, leaving the young guy standing there.
Zhang Yang basically understood the core of their argument and immediately parked his bike, walking towards the young man.
"Hey, buddy! Are you looking to rent out this place?" Zhang Yang took out a pack and handed him a cigarette.
"What? You want to rent the place?" Seeing Zhang Yang trying to get close, the young owner came straight to the point.
Zhang Yang looked around at the location of this street-front property and nodded at the space inside, "Yeah, I'm looking for a place to open a shop. I've been searching for a while without any luck! This spot seems decent, how much is the annual rent?"
The phone shop owner was fretting over the rent issue, and hearing Zhang Yang wanted to rent the place, he regained some energy.
Actually, it wasn't that he had any real family issues; he just got lucky with a spot on the electronic street in the city and didn't want to continue business here in the town. Now if someone could take over the lease, he could walk away clean.
"The rent is twelve thousand a year, with five and a half months remaining until it expires at the end of the year. If you're serious about renting, I won't charge the sublet fee, just give me the rent—five thousand five! When the time comes, you can sign a new contract with the landlord."
Upon hearing the offer, Zhang Yang gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"That's too steep. Along the street there, similar-sized places rent for only eleven thousand a year, including utilities! Moreover, if I move in, I'd need at least a month for renovation, wouldn't I?"
"Five thousand! I'll accept a slight loss!"
"I can only offer four thousand! This location is a bit off, if it were central street, five thousand might be reasonable!"
"Damn! Four thousand it is then! A loss is better than total loss! Do you have the money with you? We can sign the contract right now!"
Zhang Yang had guessed the guy was eager to leave, so his four-thousand offer was somewhat bold, thinking they might haggle the price to about four thousand five. He hadn't expected the other party to agree to four thousand outright.
"I need to withdraw the money from the bank, get your old contract and new contract, along with your identification ready, and I'll come back later!"
"Sure! I'll wait for you at the shop!"
...
An hour later, Zhang Yang signed the sublease contract in the shop with the cash he withdrew from the bank.
The other party promised to vacate and hand over the store within two days, with the lease expiring on New Year's Day.
Having sorted out the shop issue, Zhang Yang finally felt relieved.
After subtracting the four thousand rent from twenty-four thousand, he had around twenty thousand left.
With the place secured, the next steps were registering the business license at the commercial bureau, ordering store signage, setting up shelves, and finally stocking products for display.
Zhang Yang was clear on these trivialities; the only thing to consider was the funds available for inventory.
After deducting expenses for shelves and signage, he could only use about seventeen to eighteen thousand at most, which wasn't ideal for large-scale stocking.
But Zhang Yang had already made plans, opting to stock regular fish bait with high turnover, while large investments in fishing rods, tackle boxes, hooks, and lines could be stocked minimally and restocked frequently.
Once sales turnover began, profits could be reinvested to gradually upgrade the store's product range and inventory levels.
Especially with a steady income from selling Chinese herbal wine rice daily, alongside delivery commissions, as long as he managed product quality well, attracting customers wouldn't be hard, and he could quickly snowball growth.
With his plan in place, Zhang Yang returned home and used his computer to draft an order list, compiling a checklist of essential items for store setup.
The next day, Zhang Yang took the list and headed straight to Guangfeng Fishing Tackle Wholesale Market in the city!
Upon arrival at the wholesale market, Zhang Yang didn't wander around but headed directly to Xinda Fishing Tackle Shop.
In his previous life, he sourced from them; the owner was quite friendly, mainly distributing rods from brands like Guangwei and DIJIA, floats from Golden Eye and Hong Kong Wuji, and bait from brands like Old Ghost, Dragon King's Grudge, and Hua's Fish Bait—all quality products.
For some products not directly distributed by the shop, they could help source from other companies, saving Zhang Yang from replenishing elsewhere.
Zhang Yang arrived in the morning; usually Monday is the quietest day, but this shop was busier than Zhang Yang had anticipated.
Several workers were busy packing shipments, and the owner's wife was constantly jotting down orders over the phone, unable to take a moment to look up—a bustling scene.
Dishing out fishing tackle wholesale was inherently busy, but Zhang Yang wasn't restless. He found a spot that wouldn't obstruct and patiently waited for the owner's wife to finish logging the orders.
After more than ten minutes, the owner's wife looked up and realized there was a new young guy in the shop.
"Handsome guy, looking to buy something? Our products are high quality and priced right, sure to meet your needs!"
Zhang Yang grinned and handed a USB stick to the owner's wife.
"Hello, I want to open a fishing tackle shop in town. Here's a rough list of items I need. If you're not too busy, could you take a look?"
Upon hearing he was a bulk buyer, the owner's wife perked up, stood up to pour water, then opened the list in Zhang Yang's USB stick.
After a rough look, the owner's wife curiously asked, "Have you operated a shop before?"
"I haven't opened my own, just helped a friend in another town during summer break! Is there a problem with my list?" Zhang Yang casually came up with an excuse.
"No issues really—from your selection alone, it's clear they are well-chosen by someone knowledgeable in fishing tackle; all high value and quality items!
But your stocking quantity seems a bit low; consumables like hooks and lines, you haven't requested much for each size number, restocking will be frequent!"
Zhang Yang shrugged, "Indeed a bit low, but I have no choice, this is all the money I've got. Please slightly adjust the categories from my list as needed!
For items with longer sales cycles, have less stock; for those with shorter cycles, stock more. Aim to keep the total order cost around 17,000! It's just a small town shop, we'll make do for now and expand gradually when we have more funds!"
"Got it, I understand what you mean, just wait a moment while I draft an order list for you!"
When mentioning the insufficient funds, Zhang Yang showed no sign of embarrassment, which surprised the owner's wife a bit.
Most young guys around twenty don't show such maturity like Zhang Yang, combined with his discernment in choosing items and placing orders, which left a good impression on the owner's wife in their initial encounter.