If nothing unexpected happens, the major markets in Hangzhou Sijiqing Clothing Street may open to welcome customers on March 1st, which is nearly a month delayed from the original opening time of the 11th day of the first lunar month (February 4th) .
For the apparel industry, the delay of more than 20 days may result in fewer sales opportunities for spring models. One third. If it is more serious, it means that the sales opportunity throughout the spring will be lost.
From a greenhouse market with only 45 stalls to a clothing empire with annual turnover of nearly 10 billion yuan and annual rent of about 200 million yuan. 2020 was originally the founding year of Sijiqing.
Amidst the rare desertion
Many stores are being renovated
Normally, Sijiqing’s day starts at four in the morning.
“If you want to make more money, open the door earlier than others.” This is a golden saying passed down by word of mouth among the owners of Sijiqing in the past.
At five o’clock in the morning every day, most people are still indulging in warm dreams. The entrance of Sijiqing is so lively that it makes people feel like a noisy afternoon.
Porters, fashion models, stores, and buyers are coming and going in a hurry, and large black, yellow, green packages, or oversized packages are carrying their goods, or It is the sparkling dream of their ordinary lives.
The following is the morning we recorded at Sijiqing on November 30, 2019:
In the early morning of November 30, 2019, the packers were already busy.
Sijiqing in the early morning of November 30, 2019
2 On the morning of March 24, I took the elevated road to Sijiqing. Although vehicles on the Desheng Elevated and Qiushi Elevated Highways had already started queuing up, the Sijiqing section of Hanghai Road was rarely deserted when the cars drove into it. Standing on the Jiefang Road overpass, I can only see buses passing by on the road. The markets on both sides of the road have their rolling shutters tightly closed, and there is not a single open shop in sight.
Near Sijiqing at 8 o’clock in the morning on February 24, 2020
ThegateofSijiqingataround8o’clockinthemorningonFebruary24,2020.
ItookadetourtothemainentranceofChangqingCasualWomen’s Clothing Market, and finally saw rows of parked electric cars, as well as decoration workers coming in and out. I heard decorations coming from time to time. The sound of electric drills and hammering.
Sijiqing on the morning of February 24, 2020.
Inside Sijiqing Market on February 24, 2020.
There are two security inspection channels at the main entrance of the market, one is for checking decoration workers, and the other is for merchants. If the body temperature is normal and the health code shows green, the market allows merchants to go in to check the progress of the decoration or to get Order the goods and send them out.
Sijiqing on February 24, 2020
Sijiqing on the morning of February 24, 2020.
Decoration workers must take their temperature before entering and show their green code.
The market office staff said that there are about forty or fifty stalls in the market being renovated now, which is similar to the situation in previous years. It’s just that the start of renovation work has been delayed compared to previous years. Everyone should be able to open their doors for normal business on March 1. The market is usually bustling with wholesale business, so who cares about the decoration style? This idea was immediately despised by the boss ladies nearby. “Clothing trading is a fashion business. Decorating a store is a very important thing. A good-looking facade can attract customers more.”
Run to the market as soon as I finish observing at home
Be prepared to do less business for a season
In fact, in the past two days, the proprietress Dan Fei has been a little anxious. A few days ago, she drove to the China Textile Center Garment City and showed her ID card at the door. The security guard learned that she had returned to her hometown in Wenzhou and advised her not to go in yet.
“I’m not in a hurry to open the door for business.” Dan Fei said, “I just want to feel like there is a job waiting for me.”
The stall business ended on the 28th of the year, and Dan Fei…The family of four drove back to Wenzhou Village. Unexpectedly, they never left the village from the next day. At first, they enjoyed a few days of lazy sleep. Later, as Hangzhou slowly began to resume work and their family was still trapped in the village, life became a bit difficult.
“I look forward to returning to Hangzhou every day.” After Wenzhou allowed them to go out, they returned to their home in Binjiang, Hangzhou that day. Because they had notified the community in advance, they started working as soon as they entered the house. Observed at home. The day after the family ended their quarantine, she anxiously wanted to visit the market.
“The market notified us on February 19th that if we want to go in to get the goods, we can send one person in for half an hour every day.” Like every boss lady who works hard at Sijiqing , Dan Fei, who has been doing business here for seven years, has been paying attention to the epidemic and changes in the clothing market.
“Those stores that do live broadcasts during the holidays have to go in to pick up the goods and deliver them. I heard that some of them are selling well, and I am still very envious.” Dan Fei said, in fact, I also thought about live broadcasting last year because I was working in men’s clothing and couldn’t find a suitable male broadcaster. But this epidemic obviously made her decide to put this matter on the agenda.
She sent a message to her employees, asking them to take some time at home to study and learn how to live broadcast, maybe they would use it when the market opens.
Before starting the clothing wholesale business in Hangzhou, Danfei was doing retail in Wenzhou and has been involved in the clothing industry for more than ten years. He has made losses and profits, and of course he has also encountered a When you lose money in three quarters and only make money in one quarter.
In this epidemic, Dan Fei feels that his mentality is relatively good.
“There are not many spring clothes in the store this year. There are about 100 styles or 10,000 pieces of clothes. We can almost supply our regular customers.” She said, last year The situation in the second half of the year was not very good, so she did not expect to be too optimistic about 2020. She only ordered a small number of spring clothes before the year.
There has been no work in the past few days, but Dan Fei has not been idle. She has gone to learn about the garment factories upstream.
“Many have not started operations yet. Clothing factories require more procedures to start operations, plus costs such as workers and rent, the pressure is also relatively high.” Dan Fei said, It seems that we should be prepared for one less season of business this year. “But I don’t think it will have a big impact. When the market opens, I plan to make summer clothes directly later.”
Dan Fei has thought about it, even if the market opens, it may not be possible for the time being. There will be a lot of people coming to pick up the goods, so she plans to take this opportunity to expand her business online.
The market has informed you not to go to South Korea to get the goods yet
The hardest part We have experienced it all the time
We are not afraid of this difficulty now
If it weren’t for this epidemic, Zhou Lin, the proprietress of Zhongzhou Women’s Clothing Market, I may have flown back and forth to Korea several times. In Sijiqing, the clothing made by her owner is Korean clothing.
The market called them the day before yesterday and told them that the epidemic situation in South Korea was not very optimistic and asked them not to go to South Korea to get goods for the time being. If you go to South Korea and come back, you must observe yourself at home for 14 days.
Zhou Lin immediately decided not to fly to South Korea.
She said that she has been doing business for more than 10 years and has become familiar with the buyers in South Korea in the past few years. She can just ask them to package and ship the goods directly.
She had already prepared some spring clothes a few years ago. She originally planned to take pictures of the new ones at the beginning of the new year, but now she can’t get the goods out. Customers urged her to buy new ones in her circle of friends, but instead she There is no rush at all, I said we will wait until March 1st to open the door.
Zhou Lin is a very strong person. He came to Hangzhou from Wenzhou to do business.
At first, her family did not agree, but she insisted on coming. I live alone in a small rented room, and no one talks about my get off work when I get off work. I have to do everything by myself little by little. At the beginning, there were few customers, I couldn’t find the goods accurately, and I invested a lot of money, so I felt a lot of pressure.
“We bought clothes that cost several hundred yuan, but in the end we couldn’t sell them all, and they were all in inventory.” Zhou Lin could only sell them piece by piece, and sold them for just a few dozen yuan. In order to reduce the loss of money, my voice was hoarse. In the end, if I couldn’t sell it all, I would sell it for a few yuan.
When Zhou Lin said this, it seemed like he was telling someone else’s story.
She said that the most difficult time was over. Now she has four or five stalls in Sijiqing with more than 40 employees.
Compared with the most difficult time, Zhou Lin feels that the impact and difficulties caused by this epidemic will pass quickly.
Zhou Lin’s WeChat Moments in January posted more than 50 new Korean women’s styles a day. During this time, I was not so anxious.
“The employees are anxious and say that staying at home is boring and want to make money as soon as possible.” Zhou Lin told reporters that the overall situation this year is not expected to be very good. The rent of more than 1 million will be her biggest cost.
If the epidemic situation in South Korea is not optimistic, she will consider turning to the domestic market and follow the market.
Do you know where the most magical place is in Sijiqing?
Most of the merchants here are veterans who have been in the market for many years. They have made money and lost money, experienced difficulties and failures, but they There are always ways to adapt to changes, and there are always ways to adapt as quickly as possible. They are the keenest sniffers in this market and can make the fastest judgments and choices.
This is probably one of the most admirable things about the ladies of Sijiqing.
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