Chapter 44 Chapter 44 After lunch, Shen Xuan was not in a hurry to go back...
After lunch, Shen Xuan was not in a hurry to go back, but went to the Gold-Zhijin Street again.
Compared with the elegant atmosphere of Zhuangyuan Bridge, Zijin Street seems to be more bustling with lights and wine, but there are more pedestrians on the street and it is more lively.
Chen Xuan discovered that although there were many places of entertainment such as brothels and brothels on Zijin Street, there were more women and men on the street than in other commercial streets.
The courtesans and prostitutes in brothels, as well as the actors in theaters love beauty and often dress more exquisitely and beautifully. In order to attract customers, these courtesans and actresses often dressed up and paraded through the streets.
Although they are of humble status, their taste is not bad, and the female friends in Beijing secretly regard them as fashion trendsetters.
Therefore, in addition to the usual restaurants, hotels, embroidery and tailor shops, there are also many shops specializing in hairdressing, makeup and rouge on Zijin Street.
There are many ladies who are professional in doing people's hair and makeup. They all have extraordinary skills and are good at using wigs.
Many officials' families who came to a banquet would come here specially to ask someone to do their hair and make-up.
For example, there is a shop called Changcuifang on this street that specializes in combing people's hair. It has more than ten hairdressers. The owner is called Madam Zhao, a hairdressing nanny released from the palace.
Not only did Madam Zhao open this shop herself, she was also often invited by officials' wives to do their hair.
The cost of hiring her for a day is thirty taels of silver, but even so, it is often difficult to hire her.
Therefore, sometimes the guests could only settle for the second best and ask Madam Li or Madam Wang from the shop to come over.
Although her status is not as respectable as that of Lady Zhao who came from the palace, her hairdressing skills are not bad, and she can earn 10 to 20 taels of silver a day.
Although Shen Xuan didn't like to comb her hair and dress up, she was very interested in the shop opened by this woman and her brother.
There were not many women and men doing business in the Jin Dynasty. Most of them were embroidery shops, tailor shops, dressing shops, etc., and the owners were all capable people with some skills.
He saw that Changcuifang was bustling with customers. The mirror cabinet inside the house was full of people, and there were even people sitting on chairs queuing at the door.
Except for the ladies who were hired out, the rest of the hairdressing ladies were combing the hair of the guests who came in.
To have your hair combed in Changcuifang, even if it was an unknown young lady, one would have to pay at least one hundred coins to two taels of silver as a labor fee, depending on the difficulty of the hairstyle.
Guests can bring their own wigs and pearl hairpins, but if they don’t have them, they can buy them in Changcuifang.
Shen Xuan took a casual look and found that a simple wig made of silk thread would cost one or two taels of silver. If it is made of real hair, it will be more expensive.
And a very complicated wig might even cost ten taels of silver.
In addition, there are various small items such as silk flowers, pearl hairpins, etc., although they are not as expensive as those sold in regular jewelry shops. But the price of one or two hundred coins each, the good quality and low price also attracted many customers to buy one, which brought them a considerable income.
A hairdressing shop like this would have a daily turnover of at least dozens of taels of silver, and after deducting costs, it would make a thousand taels of silver a month, which was a huge sum of money in Beijing.
Shen Xuan couldn't help but think in his heart that there were only a dozen hairdressers in this hairdressing business, and there was no cost, all that mattered was the craft.
The income from opening a hairdressing shop in Zijin Street is equivalent to that from opening a restaurant in Zhuangyuan Bridge. Moreover, there are many things to do in a restaurant and it requires a lot of manpower, making it even more difficult to manage.
After looking at the hairdressing shop, Shen Xuan went to see the makeup shop next to it.
The situation in that shop is similar to this one. Although the business is not as good as Changcuifang, it is also very good.
After Chen Xuan walked around the entire Zijin Street, he realized that apart from the theaters and brothels, the shops that made the most money were probably those that did business with girls and boys.
Shen Xuan's heart moved, and he felt that he could also open a shop and make some money from this aspect.
Although he knows nothing about combing women's hair, he can start a beauty and skin care business, right?
You should know that there is currently no such concept as skin care products in Dajin. Although there are some rouge and powder shops, they only sell the same few things, and they are relatively simple. They are far from comparable to the dazzling array of skin care and makeup products in the modern world.
Chen Xuan felt that the beauty and skin care business was a blue ocean in the Dajin market and was well worth a try.
However, this business is not something that can be made just by saying it. First of all, you need a bigger store and attractive products. These all need to be done slowly and cannot be accomplished in a short period of time.
After coming up with the idea, Chen Xuan left Zijin Street and went back to look for the broker he had met before.
He first asked about the shops that were for sale on Zijin Street. Only then did I realize that this prosperous shop in Beijing is not something that ordinary people can afford.
Not only are there few shops selling it on the street, but the price is also extremely high.
A small shop with a frontage no more than six feet wide was sold for five thousand taels of silver. It is not in the most lively place, but next to a small shop selling food.
For a prosperous shop near a theater or Changcuifang, a three-foot storefront would cost 10,000 taels of silver. If the place is large, the starting price would be at least 30,000 or 50,000.
With Chen Xuan's current savings, he can't even afford a storefront...
Shen Xuan had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and asked, "Is there any shop here for rent? If so, how much is it?"
"There are a few rooms for rent." The man introduced to Shen Xuan, "But the rental period must be at least one year. The rent for the shop that cost five thousand taels of silver is eight hundred taels a year."
"The rent for a shop with a better location is more expensive. A small shop costs more than 2,000 taels a year, and a large one costs even more."
"It's so expensive?" Shen Xuan took a breath.
He only had more than 3,000 taels in his hand. Even if he took it all out, he could only rent a small shop in a good place, which was not very suitable.
But if you want to rent a larger shop, the location will not be good. If you rent it on the edge of the street or in an alley, the customer flow will not be large.
Seeing Shen Xuan's hesitation, the broker said, "The shops on Zijin Street are the most expensive in the entire capital. If you don't have that much money and want to rent a shop to do business, why not rent it somewhere else?"
"For example, at Zhuangyuan Bridge, you can rent a two-story shop with a six-foot frontage for about 500 taels. It's also close to the Imperial College, so it's more cost-effective than Zijin Street."
"I'll think about it." Shen Xuan said, and then took a car back to the mansion.
When Shen Xuan got home, he just got off the car and saw Mother You standing at the door. She walked up to him with a unhappy look and said, "Where did you go, Brother Shen? Why did you go out this morning and not come back all day? It's already past 3 p.m. when you came home?"
"This is my first time in the capital, so naturally everything is new to me, so I just wandered around outside for a while." Shen Xuan said.
Mother You seemed not to believe what she said, so she glanced at Jin Zhi Jingui and deliberately scolded them, saying, "Brother Shen came from the countryside and doesn't know the rules. Don't you know that? How can a boy or girl in Beijing go out and not come home all day? I almost thought something happened to Brother Shen and I had to go back to report it to the lady."
Jin Zhi Jingui had already been taken care of by Chen Xuan, and when she was questioned by Mother You, she naturally helped Chen Xuan cover up.
Jin Gui quickly said, "Mother You scolded us because we didn't remind Brother Chen about this matter. Seeing that he was having fun, we forgot about it."
Jinzhi also said, "We seldom go out on weekdays. Today, we went out with Brother Chen and forgot about playing. Mother You, please scold us."
When Mother You saw that what Jinzhi Jingui said was similar to what Shen Xuan said, she felt that what Shen Xuan said must be true?
So she coughed and said, "Forget it this time, but if it happens again, I will report it to Madam and deduct your monthly salary. Do you hear me?"
Jinzhi Jingui quickly agreed, and Mother You turned and left.
After she left, Shen Xuan returned to the house and said to Jin Zhi Jingui, "How much monthly allowance does the Xue family give you?"
"A third-class attendant earns one hundred coins a month," said Jingui.
"Okay, I won't care about the money from the Xue family in the future. If you work for me, I will give you a monthly salary of 200 wen." Shen Xuan said.
Jin Zhi Jingui was overjoyed again after hearing this, and immediately kowtowed to Shen Xuan to express her gratitude.
He thought that Chen Xuan was indeed much more generous than the Xue family. Not counting the extra rewards every month, he actually got double the monthly allowance.
Even if she doesn't want the monthly allowance from the Xue family anymore, she still has to serve Shen Xuan well. After all, if she follows the mistress in the Xue family, she will end up being just a small third-class attendant. Only if she follows Shen Xuan will she have a future.
Besides, after Shen Xuan had dinner, he lay on the bed and began to think about his business plan.
The original idea collapsed before it even started due to lack of money. He had to give up the idea of opening a beauty shop on Zhijin Street and instead do a low-cost business.
If we talk about low cost, then the snack and tea business is the simplest. The shop front doesn't need to be too big, as long as it has a backyard and a well where you can draw water and make a fire.
Chen Xuan thought about it carefully and decided to do the snack business on Zijin Street.
It was impossible for him to sell honey custard tea, but snacks were often greasy and students were afraid of dirtying their books, so they were not as popular as tea near the Imperial College.
The restaurants and teahouses in Zhuangyuan Bridge are of a more elegant style, and small vendors are not allowed to go in and hawk their wares. If they only rely on the customers inside to buy their food, they naturally won't make much money.
But there were many customers in the brothels and brothels on Zijin Street, and there were also many customers in the nearby theaters.
Moreover, these places do not care about the level of the place and allow small vendors from nearby stalls to come in and sell their goods.
Relatively speaking, the business in Zijin Street will definitely be better than that in Zhuangyuan Bridge.
This is how small businesses like this work. Although the costs are low, the upper limit is also low because the selling price cannot be afforded.
What Shen Xuan wants to do most now is the beauty shop business, and making snacks is just a transition.
There are countless snack stalls and shops on Zijin Street, and many of them are similar. There are three wonton stalls alone, and two stalls selling buns.
Chen Xuan thought carefully about the various street snacks in the modern world, and found that there were quite a few things he had not seen on this Zijin Street.
Any one of them put on sale should be able to attract customers.
After some screening, Shen Xuan finally decided to pick two snacks that were easy to eat with wine.
After all, there are many customers drinking in the nearby brothels and theaters, and they also like to buy various snacks to go with their drinks on weekdays.
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