Chapter 247: Chapter 247: I’d Like to Meet the Person in Charge
Supermarkets in the nineties didn’t have the vast variety of goods that later generations would see. They mostly stocked daily necessities.
Shen Nian didn’t waste much time on these things. She led Shen Xiangdong straight to the supermarket’s produce section.
Shen Nian had originally thought that with such high foot traffic in this large supermarket, the produce section should be doing well too.
But after arriving, Shen Nian discovered that it wasn’t doing well at all.
Compared to the wet market Shen Nian had visited before, the supermarket had far fewer types of vegetables. Moreover, the produce wasn’t as fresh as the wet market’s, and there were barely any customers.
It made sense. Few people bought their vegetables here, so the stock moved slowly. Naturally, the variety of produce gradually decreased, and the vegetables became less and less fresh. It was a vicious cycle.
The reason for all this was actually quite simple when you thought about it. The supermarket’s operating costs were higher than a wet market’s, so the vegetables inside were slightly more expensive than those outside.
For vegetables of the same quality, people would naturally choose the cheaper option! Over time, sales in the supermarket’s produce section inevitably got worse and worse.
For Shen Nian, however, this wasn’t bad news. On the contrary, it was good news.
If the produce she was selling was the same quality as the wet market’s, then even a price war wouldn’t be very effective.
But as it happened, Shen Nian’s produce was of far better quality than the vegetables at the wet market.
People in the city were living better and better lives, and more and more of them knew how to enjoy the finer things. Before, they had no choice. But now that there was an alternative, Shen Nian was confident that her farm’s vegetables would be able to capture a significant market share in the future.
And this supermarket, currently the largest in the provincial capital, was her first-choice platform.
"Xiao Nian, it looks like things aren’t selling too well here. It’s much worse than the wet market we went to before."
Shen Xiangdong had noticed this as well. But he said it because he wanted to persuade Shen Nian to give up on this place. After all, with the situation being so bad, how could they choose to partner with them?
"Mhm, but the very fact that they’re worse than the wet market is exactly what I like about them," Shen Nian said, smiling at Shen Xiangdong. With that, she glanced ahead and started walking toward a supermarket employee not far away.
Meanwhile, Shen Xiangdong, trailing behind her, still hadn’t processed what Shen Nian had just said. ’What? She likes that they’re doing poorly? What kind of logic is that? Don’t people usually pick the best?’
But no matter how confused he was, Shen Xiangdong hurried to follow Shen Nian when he saw her approach the employee.
"Hello, I’d like to see the person in charge of your supermarket’s produce section."
Shen Nian spoke to the young woman in a supermarket uniform, a broad, confident smile on her face.
The supermarket employee, Sun Xiaojie, had a rather timid personality. Because of this, she had been pushed aside to the produce section ever since she started working at the supermarket.
A job at the supermarket was considered a good one, but it all depended on the department. Employees in departments with good sales naturally had higher incomes and held a much higher status among their colleagues.
But she had been relegated to the produce section, the one with the worst sales. Her daily work consisted of organizing shelves and tidying products; she rarely even had customers to attend to.
As a result, her income couldn’t increase by much, and she was often the butt of jokes among employees from other departments.
However, Sun Xiaojie didn’t complain much. She just hoped that one day, business in the produce section would pick up. That way, her job might feel a little more valuable.
But looking at the dismal lack of customers in the produce section every day, Sun Xiaojie sometimes felt that her hope was probably just a pipe dream.
Just as she was sighing over these thoughts, Sun Xiaojie suddenly heard a pleasant voice.
"Hello, I’d like to see the person in charge of your supermarket’s produce section."
