Chapter 90: Grand Opening
When ’Taoyao Square’ opened, the lion dance troupe danced at the door for quite a while, attracting many people over.
Su Yaoguang and others were dressed meticulously, each smelling fragrant, and holding a basket in their hands.
In those baskets were samples of face cream or perfumes. They would distribute them to women without saying much, just mentioning that these were new products from their store and could be taken home to try.
The onlookers were initially worried that they might be asked for money, but seeing that the distributors left without entangling them, they felt relieved.
"Ladies and gentlemen, passersby, our Taoyao Square is opening today. If you’re interested, feel free to take a look. Everything purchased today is at a 30% discount," Su Yaoguang loudly announced. "From tomorrow onwards, it will revert to the original price, so today is the only chance not to be missed!"
"Young boss, what scent of perfume are you wearing? Please introduce it to me, I want to buy this one," a beautifully dressed woman stepped out from the crowd and said.
"Dear beautiful sister, you have such great taste. This perfume is hard to extract and took a month to make, so the stock is limited. Once sold out, new stock will only be available after a month."
"No wonder it smells so good, it’s so rare. I better buy a few more bottles, or they’ll be gone."
Upon hearing about the 30% discount today, everyone decided to go in and have a look, whether they intended to buy or not.
When they entered Taoyao Square, the exquisite store made their eyes light up. The store was large, with a dazzling array of colorful bottles displayed, filling the air with an enticing fragrance.
"If there are any of my old customers here, you might have seen me doing makeup for others on the street. Now that I have a store, this area is specifically set up as a makeup zone. If you have important occasions requiring makeup and hairstyling services, you can still come to me. For makeup alone, it’s the same as before at five cents per session. If you want makeup, hairstyle, and clothing, the price will vary according to the requirements."
"Young boss, what’s upstairs? We want to go upstairs and have a look."
"I’m sorry, beautiful sister, upstairs is currently not open to the public. Only our store’s VIP customers can go upstairs to select their favorite new products."
"How does one become a VIP customer of your store?"
"By purchasing items! As long as customers are willing, we’ll register their information and keep track of their purchases. Once you’ve spent over fifty taels of Silver, you can become a VIP customer. As a VIP, you’ll be prioritized for receiving samples of new products, and we will deliver them for you to try at home. When there are new products, VIP customers will have the first choice. In short, VIP customers will receive more of our attention. For instance, we offer free skin analysis and tailor skincare products that suit their skin conditions, and so on."
"Fifty taels... that’s no small amount."
"Boss, I want these few boxes."
"Alright, I’ll wrap them up for you," Zhang Zhaodi responded loudly.
Today, Wang Huanzhi was the accountant. He only needed to sit in front of the counter and properly attend to the customers brought by Su Yaoguang and the others, recording their information for data statistics.
Zhang Pandi and her daughters, along with Zhang Yingdi, were all entertaining customers. After some grooming, Zhang Pandi was quite an engaging woman. Jia Chunni, being younger, wasn’t made up too extravagantly; Su Yaoguang had styled her to look cute and sweet—like the beloved neighboring girl everyone likes. Zhang Yingdi was the youngest and prettiest amongst the three sisters. Once dressed up, she looked like a charming young girl in her teens.
Wang Huanzhi’s gaze always followed Zhang Yingdi. Especially when male guests arrived at the store, he appeared even more nervous. Su Yaoguang noticed Wang Huanzhi’s lack of focus and arranged for Zhang Yingdi in the area next to him, having her attend to female guests, trying different grooming products with them.
Zhang Zhaodi wore a colorful dress with fresh flowers pinned in her hair and was dolled up with pretty makeup, looking rejuvenated. When she smiled, the corners of her eyes no longer drooped, making her appear much younger.
"Daughter, teach me how to do this makeup another day. Once I learn it, I won’t need your help and can do it myself. Zhong Lanhua always puts on makeup, and those men hover around her; I see nothing special about it! Aunty didn’t know how to dress up before, but now I’m dressed up, I’m no worse than her. No, actually I’m prettier than her."
"Yes, yes, my mother is the prettiest. Look at those aunties over there; they love your makeup style and want me to do theirs. If you want to learn, you can start watching now."
"Not today. There are too many people. Maybe when there aren’t so many people around. No, no, phew phew, our customers will always be numerous. I’ll come and learn when I have some free time."
Today was the grand opening, and with the 30% discount offer, there were indeed many customers.
After exchanging a few words with Zhang Zhaodi, Su Yaoguang and the others went back to being busy.
Each area had a price tag, with bottles of the same price placed together for easy identification by the customers. Those that were slightly expensive wouldn’t be stocked too much outside; they would be replenished when nearly sold out.
"Where’s the boss? Where’s the boss?" A shouting voice came from the entrance.
Su Yaoguang heard the voice and went out. The Zhang sisters also wanted to follow her, but she stopped them, saying that with so many customers in the store, they shouldn’t be neglected and should also be on guard for anyone trying to take advantage of the chaos.
"I am the boss. Who are you?" Su Yaoguang came out to see a tall and strong man.
A woman stood beside the man, wearing a hood. The man removed the hood, revealing her face covered in red rashes.
"My wife used your face cream and woke up overnight looking like this. How dare you open a store? Your face cream doesn’t just fail to beautify women; it can ruin their faces."
"Oh my, this face cream can really ruin your face! I even bought several boxes. Return them, return them immediately," exclaimed a woman nearby.
"Ma’am, please calm down. Let us first understand what happened," said Su Yaoguang, then turned to the man, "You claim your wife used our face cream. Where is it?"
The man took a bottle from his pocket with ’Taoyao’ written on it.
"I’d like to know when you bought this face cream and under whose name it was registered?" said Su Yaoguang. "Previously, we didn’t have a store and the face cream was sold by Boss Lady Chun’e from the Clothing Shop on our behalf. She’s honest and keeps a record of every sale and registers the customer’s name. You say this was purchased from our store, so of course, we need to trace the origin and verify its authenticity."