Chapter 294 - 293: Commercial Street Completed, Recruiting Merchants to Set Up Shop

Chapter 294: Chapter 293: Commercial Street Completed, Recruiting Merchants to Set Up Shop

Meanwhile.

The minor construction projects on the land in Cyan Mountain Town were also nearing completion.

Lin Feng knew that Cyan Mountain Town would definitely experience a boom before the end of the year.

However, such a large plot of land couldn’t possibly be fully developed before the end of the year.

Therefore, another reason Lin Feng had divided the land into zones was to allow for phased completion.

In Commercial Zone E, the buildings were predominantly single-story.

It was also the closest zone to Cyan Mountain Town, and the construction workload was not significant.

The construction team worked overtime and, after a month, finally completed this small commercial street.

Lin Feng couldn’t have stayed in Cyan Mountain Town for that entire month.

During that time, Lin Feng returned to Xiang City for a meal with his parents and sister.

After discovering that Lin Jiandong and He Yue had now adapted to the business model of a large restaurant, he went ahead and found Aunt Tang.

He paid to buy a shop on another commercial street.

He handed it over to Lin Jiandong and his wife to manage, partly to keep them busy.

This way, his family wouldn’t worry about him when he was away in Cyan Mountain Town.

...

Back in Cyan Mountain Town.

Lin Feng arrived just in time for the commercial street’s completion.

He planned to have some businesses move in soon.

He wanted to give the small commercial street a trial run.

When Lin Feng found Zheng Yan, Zheng Yan was in the middle of a discussion with Liu Bowen and his team about which of Cyan Mountain Town’s scenic spots to promote next.

Upon learning of Lin Feng’s arrival, Zheng Yan immediately ended the meeting and delegated most of the responsibilities to Wei Shaojie.

"Mr. Lin, you’ve come. I take it this is about the land?"

Lin Feng sat in the meeting room and nodded. "That’s right. The section closest to Cyan Mountain Town is now complete. It’s a small commercial pedestrian street."

Hearing that a commercial pedestrian street was completed, Zheng Yan’s eyes lit up.

Satisfaction surveys from the first wave of tourists to Cyan Mountain Town showed a common sentiment.

Most people felt that while Cyan Mountain Town’s scenery was beautiful, it lacked commercial facilities.

Too much commercialization is not a good thing.

However, too little commercialization isn’t a good thing either.

This made many things rather inconvenient for the tourists.

Such as basic dining and shopping.

Zheng Yan had been worrying about this very issue.

He hadn’t expected that, just like that, Lin Feng would have a commercial pedestrian street ready.

"That’s wonderful! A steady stream of visitors has been coming to Cyan Mountain Town lately, so the commercial street can open for business."

A satisfied smile appeared on Zheng Yan’s face.

Lin Feng nodded as well. "If there are no issues with the commercial street, it can be put into operation."

"I came to see you about this very matter, Mr. Zheng."

Zheng Yan looked at Lin Feng, somewhat puzzled, wondering why Lin Feng had sought him out.

Zheng Yan and his team had already approved all the necessary permits and paperwork for Lin Feng.

So it couldn’t possibly be an issue with that.

So, he wondered, what could it possibly be about?

Lin Feng got straight to the point. "It’s like this. A commercial street like this needs people to run businesses on it."

"In other words, we need tenants to rent the shops. The street is built, but very few people have come to rent a space."

"I suspect the townspeople are taking a wait-and-see approach. I was hoping you, Mr. Zheng, and your team could offer some incentives for the commercial street."

It dawned on Zheng Yan.

"You can rest assured on that front, Mr. Lin. We fully support this initiative."

"As for the commercial aspect, we will encourage the town’s residents to get involved."

At this, a troubled look crossed Zheng Yan’s face. "However, Mr. Lin, during your time here, you’ve probably noticed that most of the townspeople prefer a quiet and comfortable life."

"So, there certainly won’t be many people bold enough to step up and do something like this right now."

Lin Feng nodded.

He was well aware of this.

He only planned to lease out thirty percent of the shops on this street anyway.

The remaining seventy percent would be managed by his own company.

"As for rent, I’ll be offering low rates. I just hope you and your team, Mr. Zheng, can help promote it in town."

"I also hope you can offer some incentives."

Zheng Yan considered this for a moment, then said:

"In terms of incentives, I can make a call on that. The small commercial street can enjoy a tax exemption until January of next year."

"We won’t take a single cent from this commercial street. However, we hope you’ll reinvest the savings into quality control."

Zheng Yan may have been mild-mannered, but he was a man of principle.

Lin Feng nodded. "I’m in this for the long haul. I won’t sacrifice the larger future market for the sake of petty, short-term gains."

Lin Feng’s primary goal in seeking out Zheng Yan had been to secure this very tax exemption.

Only thirty percent of the shops were to be leased to the residents of Cyan Mountain Town.

The other seventy percent belonged to Lin Feng’s own company.

With a tax exemption like this, Lin Feng stood to gain an even larger profit margin.

This was Lin Feng’s true goal.

Most of the town’s residents were already running homestays.

When they heard Zheng Yan and his team promoting the commercial street’s shops—with their low rent and tax exemption—not many people were actually interested.

Compared to opening a shop on the outskirts of town...

The residents of Cyan Mountain Town had already gotten a taste of the profits from running homestays.

"Why bother with a shop? Can’t we just run a homestay from home?"

"You don’t have to go out and brave the elements. Just manage a few rooms at home, and you can still earn money."

Many of the more conservative residents, even some of the younger ones, thought this way.

But there were still some ambitious young people. ℯ𝔴ℯ

They recognized that this was a rare opportunity.

The rent Lin Feng offered these people was very low.

A small shop could be rented for less than five hundred a month.

Add to that the tax exemption promoted by Zheng Yan’s team.

In reality, the total monthly costs were less than a thousand.

The cost of giving it a try was very low.

So some of the more enterprising young people were immediately interested.

Some of them borrowed money and began to pour their energy into the commercial street on the edge of town.

Lin Feng had originally thought that with the promotion from Zheng Yan’s team and his own generous terms, he would be able to lease out all thirty percent of the shops.

But as it turned out, the residents of Cyan Mountain Town were even more conservative than he had imagined.

After a few days, only twenty percent of the shops had been leased.

"There are still so many shops left unrented. With such low costs, why isn’t anyone coming to try it out?"

Cao Ming sighed as he looked at the data in his hands, muttering to himself.

"Because most of them are still in wait-and-see mode. Once they realize there’s money to be made, they’ll come flocking."

Lin Feng understood this perfectly from the start.

"Since these people don’t want to rent, we’ll just have our own company manage the remaining shops."

Lin Feng said, unconcerned.

Since they were passing up such a great offer.

With the tax exemption in place, Lin Feng didn’t mind letting his own people earn some extra money.

Lin Feng handed over the remaining eighty percent of the commercial street’s shops to Cao Ming to manage.

Cao Ming had already discussed business models with Du Hai multiple times recently.

Although the two had different views on the matter, they were both willing to make some compromises.

They were also willing to experiment with the effects of different business models.

This small commercial street was now the perfect place for Cao Ming to conduct his experiments.

"Clothing... accessories... snacks... street games."

Cao Ming used these categories to roughly plan out the types of shops.

There was no need to worry about sourcing, of course.

After all, it was just a small town; opening a few shops wasn’t that difficult.