Chapter 582 – Heard of Supermarket?
For two weeks, Feng Yu was flying all over China. This made him realized how much work Fu Guangzheng had done before.
Feng Yu must set up a holding company and recruit a team to manage all these companies’ shares. He only needs to sit in his headquarters and wait for people to report to him. He also will not need to worry about missing out any details.
Feng Yu finally completed his inspection of all his companies and branch factories and returned to Bing City. He still needs to settle the Tai Hua Supermarket in Bing City.
Fu Guangzheng and the rest were visiting the different provinces and cities to look for suitable locations for their supermarket. They were accompanied by the local government officials wherever they went. As for Feng Yu, he went straight to Bing City’s Mayor Office.
After taking in a sip of tea, Feng Yu let out a groan: “Hah…….”
Hmmm…. Old Zhang’s tea still tastes the best.
“Are you here just to drink tea? What is it you want? It is the end of the year, and I have a lot of work waiting for me.”
As the Mayor, Zhang Ruiqiang was very busy at the end of the year. Not only he needs to review all the work, he still needs to participate in communities’ events. Just this afternoon alone, he got to attend 3 events.
“I am a guest. How can you treat your guest this way?” Feng Yu grumbled.
Zhang Ruiqiang: “……” You dare to call yourself a guest? Where did you see a guest coming to another person’s office and search the cabinet for the best tea leaves? You did not even knock on the door and treated this place like your own house.
“If you have nothing to say, then stay here and drink your tea. I still have work.” Zhang Ruiqiang got up and was prepared to leave.
“Fine. I am scared of you. Brother Liu, help me bring in some hot water! I am here today to give you some good news.” Feng Yu said while ordering Zhang Ruiqiang’s secretary.
“Good news? What sort of good news?”
“I am going to set up a hypermarket in Bing City. If the conditions are good, it should not be a problem to set up 2 or 3.”
“Hypermarket? What is that?” Zhang Ruiqiang understood what a market was. It should be a mall or a place that sells things. But what’s a hypermarket? A bigger mall or place?
There were a few malls in Bing City. Some were state-owned, and some were private. What’s so special about those? But Hypermarket sounds quite extraordinary.
Feng Yu rolled his eyes at Zhang Ruiqiang as if he was someone ignorant.
“A Hypermarket is just like what its name. It is a type of marketplace which is very big. But this Hypermarket is different from the other malls in Bing City. It represents our City. It is Tai Hua Supermarket.”
“Represent our city? Tai Hua Supermarket? What are you talking about?” Zhang Ruiqiang was confused.
“Supermarket. It is just like the supermarkets overseas. It will display all sorts of merchandise on the shelves, and the customers get to pick what they want. They will choose and take what they want and pay at the counter when they leave.” Feng Yu explained.
So, it’s just a shop. Zhang Ruiqiang was not interested. You want to set up a shop, and yet you made it sounds like some sort of MNC. I thought you are going to invest a large sum of money in Bing City. It’s just a shop. What do you need to come and see me?
Feng Yu was not pleased when he saw Zhang Ruiqiang’s expression: “Do you know how much we invested in this Hypermarket?”
“How much? 1 million? 10 million?” Zhang Ruiqiang looked at Feng Yu. How much can it cost to set up a shop? You think I don’t know? All the goods can be on credit, and it does not require much. The City Government also have its own malls. Zhang Ruiqiang knew all these things well.
Feng Yu showed one finger and smiled: “100 million!”
Secretary Liu had just entered the room with the hot water, and he heard what Feng Yu said. His hand shook, and some of the hot water splashed on his hand. He hastily put down the teacup and waved his hand.
“Secretary Liu, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so careless? It is only 100 million. It’s not much money. Why are you so surprised?” Feng Yu purposely said.
“Xiao Liu, go out and apply some medication.” Zhang Ruiqiang turned and look at Feng Yu. “100 million is nothing to you? Fine. The Province’s library needs some renovation this year. Why not you donate 100 million to renovate it?”
Feng Yu replied nonchalantly: “Sure. Then the Provincial Library must be renamed to Wind and Rain Library, or Tai Hua Library.”
“Don’t even think about it? That is the province’s library. You cannot rename it!” Zhang Ruiqiang replied furiously.
“Then why should I donate if I don’t get anything in return?” Feng Yu looked at him with the corner of his eyes.
“Fine. I will not look for you regarding this. What is this Hypermarket you are talking about? Why do you need to invest 100 million for a mall?” Zhang Ruiqiang asked curiously.
“Do you still remember that place where we held the Electronics Exhibition? The Hypermarket will be bigger than that.” Feng Yu casually replied.
That mall had 5 stories, and each floor was over 2,000 Sqm. It had more than 10,000 Sqm in total. Feng Yu wants to build a mall bigger than that?
Zhang Ruiqiang does not know that in the future, the floor area of one floor of a Hypermarket was more than 3,000 Sqm. Some were more than 5,000 Sqm. Hypermarkets, like Carrefour and Walmart, usually have 2 to 3 stories. Just the supermarket itself was more than 10,000 Sqm.
“You are going to build a big shopping mall and use it as a supermarket? What are you going to sell in the supermarket?”
“Everything. Food, drinks, clothes, necessities, electric appliances, etc. We will be selling everything. There will still have some storefronts like fast food restaurants, etc. in the mall. As long as there is enough space, we will sell everything.”
Zhang Ruiqiang was puzzled. This was just like a grocery store which sells everything. How can there be profits? Even if you set up a Super grocery store, how much profits can there be? Your investment was 100 million RMB and how long will it take to recover your investments?
But Zhang Ruiqiang knew Feng Yu well. Feng Yu would never do any business that will lose money. There must be some other ways of generating revenue which he did not know.
“You are able to make money from this? How much tax can you give the city?” Zhang Ruiqiang asked.
“I am partnering with a few others. Fu Guangzheng, his third uncle, who was also Hong Kong’s Supermarket king. Hong Kong’s Superman Li and his youngest son. Our initial total investment is 200 million USD. We will be setting up 20 Hypermarkets first and then use the revenue to expand. Our target is to have more than 100 Hypermarkets within 5 years and over 500 Hypermarkets within 10 years.”
“Wait…… What did you say? Expand using the revenue generated? Set up over 100 Hypermarkets within 5 years? That means you expect your 5-year profits to be over 4 times your investment?” Zhang Ruiqiang’s jaws dropped.
Hypermarkets can generate so many profits?
“You don’t believe me? Since when did I lie to you? If I say can, then it will surely be possible. Also, this was my most conservative estimation. If everything goes well according to plan, the expansion might even be faster. Let me put it this way. A Hypermarket is like a shopping district. In the future, many cities will be inviting us to set up Hypermarkets in their cities. I picked Bing City is because this is my hometown. If not, the most suitable place should be Beijing, Shanghai and other coastal developed cities. This is an opportunity. It is up to you to decide.
Zhang Ruiqiang frowned. Was this really an opportunity?