I can travel back and forth in 1986

Chapter 49 Bai Family Market

In the past few days, while chatting with crayfish vendors, Zhang Beichuan also learned some information about the Chengdu aquatic product wholesale market.

Baijia Wholesale Market, as the largest first-level agricultural product wholesale market in Rongcheng City, has an annual transaction volume of 150 million tons of agricultural products and an annual transaction value of more than 130 billion yuan.

Many of the things you see in the wet market come from there.

The crayfish vendor next to him, as well as the seafood in the market, all source their goods from there.

Zhang Beichuan figured that if he could set up a stall at the Baijia Market and open up sales channels, he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

Therefore, instead of rushing back to 1986, he drove his van directly to the Baijia Wholesale Market.

Zhang Beichuan had heard of this market before.

This was his first time here, and it was even bigger than he had imagined. The outside was full of large trucks, and the inside was full of small trucks and tricycles, bustling with noise.

Following the signs, he first went to the seafood section, where there were various vegetables and fruits, grains, oils, rice and noodles, fresh aquatic products, and seafood.

I walked around and paid special attention to the stalls selling eels; there were hundreds of them, packed together.

The eels at these stalls don't look very good; most of them are farmed, and the wholesale price ranges from 25 to 28 yuan per jin (500 grams).

I asked several vendors, and they all said that wild eels are hard to find. Even when they do have some, they cost over 40 yuan per kilogram, and it's often impossible to get any.

This gave him confidence that if he expanded the scale of his eel purchases from where he started in 1986, he should be able to establish a foothold here.

"Boss, how much are the wild eels?"

Zhang Beichuan stopped in front of a stall that looked to be doing good business and pointed to the eels in front of him, asking a question.

The stall owner, a middle-aged man in his forties, glanced at him.

"42 yuan per jin (0.5 catties)"

"I want a lot, can you give me a discount?"

The stall owner shook his head. "There are less than a hundred or so pounds in total. It's the same price no matter how much you want. These days, wild ones are too hard to find."

Zhang Beichuan nodded, having a general idea in mind. He then looked at the other aquatic products on the stall and asked about the prices of loach and fish.

Afterwards, I went to the poultry section below the meat section and asked about the free-range chickens.

Free-range chickens are also in high demand here, fetching prices up to 46 yuan per jin (approximately 0.5 catties).

Looking at the market situation, Zhang Beichuan quickly started to make plans in his mind.

The Baijia wholesale market is large in scale and has a high flow of people, making it an ideal place to open up sales channels for eels and free-range chickens.

However, to gain a foothold here, having a good source of goods is not enough; you also need a fixed stall.

He asked a nearby stall owner for directions and went directly to the market management office to learn about the stall rental situation.

Upbeat background music started playing in the office.

"Preparatory section, one, two, three, four..."

A staff member was scrolling through Douyin on his phone, his eyes narrowed into slits with laughter.

"Hello, I'd like to inquire about our stall rentals," Zhang Beichuan asked as he stepped forward.

The staff member looked up, glanced at Zhang Beichuan, and reluctantly exited Douyin.

"What kind of stall would you like to rent? Fruits and vegetables, seafood... or meat?"

"Aquatic Products Area"

"Seafood section, please wait a moment." He then watched as a staff member turned on the computer. "Are there any requirements regarding the size of the stall?"

Zhang Beichuan thought for a moment and realized that selling only eels would be too monotonous. He could add some other fish, since the cost wouldn't be much anyway.

"Forty or fifty square meters should be enough."

The staff quickly reviewed the files and tilted the computer screen to the side.

"There are four or five stalls in the seafood section that meet your requirements, but the rent varies depending on the location."

"How exactly do you mean it?"

Next, the staff explained the situation of the market stalls.

The seafood stalls are divided into three types: regular stalls, prime locations, and temporary stalls.

Temporary stalls are charged by the day, and the location is not fixed and may change every day. The area is four or five square meters, and the price is 200 yuan per day.

A standard stall, around 40-50 square meters, costs 3800-4500 yuan per month, with a minimum lease term of six months. In contrast, a better prime location stall, also around 40-50 square meters, costs 7000-10000 yuan per month, with a minimum lease term of one year.

Water and electricity fees are calculated separately. The market management fee for the aquatic product area is 1000 yuan per month.

Zhang Beichuan thought for a moment, and decided that if he was going to do it, he had to choose a good location.

Saving that little bit on rent is pointless if it's some remote, deserted corner where nobody lives. What's the point of selling anything then?

"Could you show me the prime location in the seafood section?"

Upon hearing this, the staff immediately stood up.

"Okay, I'll show you around."

The staff led Zhang Beichuan into the aquatic products area and pointed to an empty space near the entrance.

"This is the place, a good location, lots of people coming and going. What exactly do you sell?"

"Wild eels, sold along with some other fish or something."

Upon hearing about wild eels, the staff member paused for a moment and glanced at him again.

"Wow, this is a hot commodity. Wild eels are hard to find right now. Do you have a stable supply?"

"Yes, someone specifically helps me collect them from the countryside every day. What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"Okay, but I'm worried you might have too little stuff and won't even be able to cover the rent. Once the rent is paid, it's non-refundable, so you'll have to find a way to transfer it yourself."

Zhang Beichuan nodded, then suddenly remembered a question.

"We also have some free-range chickens that we collected from the countryside, but not many. Could we put them together?"

"Approximately how many?"

"Currently, there are probably a maximum of twenty or thirty per day, and it will increase slightly later, maybe up to a hundred or so?"

Zhang Beichuan gave a very conservative figure: in just the last few days, he had made arrangements at the market in 1986, and his grandmother was also at home helping with the harvest.

There were fewer than 10 chickens a day. In winter, because every household needed money to buy New Year's goods, there were relatively more people selling chickens than now.

He had never received any specific amount, so he could only give a rough estimate.

"Forty or fifty a day isn't much. Okay, if you want to rent them, you can sell them together first."

The staff member paused for a moment, then said, "However, if you can reach 200 birds or more per day, you will have to rent a separate shop in the poultry section."

This is also because business is not good now. In previous years, Zhang Beichuan would definitely not have agreed to this request.

"Okay, what's the rent for this location?"

"This shop is 45 square meters, the rent is 8000 yuan, plus a management fee of 1000 yuan, which is 9000 yuan per month, and 108000 yuan per year. The deposit is 10000 yuan, for a total of 118000 yuan."

Upon hearing this number, Zhang Beichuan glanced at him in surprise, as if the man had turned his pockets inside out.

Including the money he spent on eels these past few days, he has 63000 yuan in cash on hand and less than 57000 yuan in his bank account, totaling less than 120,000 yuan.

After paying a year's rent and deposit, I only had a little over a thousand yuan left. I was back to square one overnight.

But the location of this shop is really good; in just a few minutes, quite a few people have already passed by.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, this is it!"

"Okay, if you're sure you want to rent it, just bring your ID to the office to complete the formalities."

"Okay, I'll come to complete the formalities first thing tomorrow morning."

It was already 5 p.m. when Zhang Beichuan left Baijia Market. He drove his van back to his rented apartment complex.

He was thinking to himself that he still needed to get a business license.

If you hire someone to do it, it will cost around a thousand yuan.

Fortunately, the four thousand dollars I recently earned in 1986 is still sitting in my rented room and hasn't been cashed out yet.

Otherwise, I would have become a complete pauper.