1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 125 Site Selection
The toilet reeked of stench and was overflowing with sewage. Chen Jiazhi endured the nausea, changed his shorts, and quickly ran out.

After Xue Jun came out, the two walked back. Due to the heavy rain, the wholesale market was rather deserted at four o'clock.

Some people didn't come to buy vegetables, while others quickly bought their vegetables and left.

The two walked side by side, and Xue Jun asked, "Jiazhi, where are we going later?"

Chen Jiazhi thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back to where we were yesterday and then circle back from the city. It might be a long and tiring journey."

"Haha, it's okay."

There was no fear in Xue Jun's eyes; on the contrary, his eyes were filled with anticipation when he heard that they were going to the city.

After turning a corner, the two returned to the alley where they had set up their stall. Chen Jiazhi saw two people standing next to his car from afar.

One of them was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and glasses; he was Director Wang, who had visited yesterday.

Director Wang also saw him, took a cigarette, and took two steps forward.

"Chen, vegetable farmer, have you seen the market notice? Now we can talk about renting a stall, right?"

"I've heard about it." Chen Jiazhi didn't take the cigarette and pondered for a moment. "It's better than I expected. I thought you wanted to drive all the vegetable farmers away."

Director Wang smiled and said, "The stall owners definitely want to kick you out, but we're in the marketing business, so we want as much popularity as possible. You don't think I didn't think of that, do you?"

Chen Jiazhi initially thought so too, believing that messing around in the market would scatter popularity, which prompted him to quickly switch markets.

Director Wang added, "There are actually quite a few empty spaces in the market, but since your size is limited, the best spots are definitely out of your reach. However, we can give you a decent spot, number 56, an auspicious number!"

We can also offer you a discount on the rent; it will be 180 yuan per month.

Chen Jiazhi was slightly surprised. The location was good. He pondered for a moment and said, "Let me think about it some more."

"Okay, no rush, there's still time."

Director Wang casually walked away, one hand in his pocket.

The government is currently implementing a "vegetable basket" project, which involves not only relocating wholesale markets from the city center but also building new markets in the suburbs, along with some community markets and street markets. The overall competitive environment is actually quite fierce.

Their market has a historical advantage, with many individual vendors, so it's quite popular.

However, even during its two most popular years, it was rarely fully rented.

As the number of wholesale markets increases, many new markets offer very low rents to attract customers, and a few even offer rent-free periods to draw in more people.

For him, the stall owners are very important, so he had to keep the troublemaking stall owners calm last night.

But small vegetable farmers are equally important. If they go to other markets because of this, it's not a loss of resources, but rather an investment in the enemy.

Historically, starting in 1994, Huacheng experienced explosive growth in various wholesale markets for vegetables, fruits, and other products.

In the vicinity of Jiangnan Market, which Chen Jiazhi was familiar with, in addition to Yuexiu and Dongwang, five or six other large-scale vegetable wholesale markets of the same size emerged in the past year or two.

At its peak, there were 14 wholesale markets within a two-kilometer stretch of road.
Due to the excessive and disorderly development of too many markets and ineffective regulation, many markets have become idle.

Many newly opened large wholesale markets have more than 50% vacant stalls, and even offering rent-free spaces to attract vendors has had little effect.

Although Huacheng has only just begun expanding into new markets in the suburbs, Director Wang has already sensed a decline in popularity.

Not only are customers leaving, but wholesale vegetable vendors are also moving away.

Therefore, the market wants to upgrade and improve its infrastructure to retain merchants.

Director Wang had also heard of Chen the vegetable farmer before, who had a stable supply of bok choy, which had attracted a number of customers.

Besides him, the other three small vegetable farmers are also doing well, and they've been growing quite a lot of vegetables lately.

The market definitely wants to retain such high-quality goods.

That's why he came for two consecutive nights. Last night, he was trying to use him to divert attention from the conflict, but tonight it was purely to show goodwill.

It's okay if Chen the vegetable farmer is still upset about yesterday; he'll come again tomorrow.
...

"Jiazhi, do you still want to go see it? Or maybe you should just stay. It doesn't seem like the market is that heartless."

Chen Jiazhi gave the tricycle keys to Yi Dinggan, swapped them for his bicycle, and unloaded the two large iron baskets before looking up and saying:
"This should be the first time the market has seen a disguised reduction in rents, right?"

"Yes."

Li Mingkun also said, "In the past, prices only went up; I never thought the market would fall."

Guo Mancang added, "And it was after the renovation and upgrade that the price dropped."

The group had almost sold out of vegetables, with only a few left over, so they all gathered around.

Chen Jiazhi thought for a while, "Do you know why the rent was lowered? You probably don't, so even if you don't change markets, it's good to go out and see more."

Yi Dinggan said with dissatisfaction, "How dare you say that? You went to the city without taking us with you."

Chen Jiazhi chuckled and shook his head, then took out a cigarette and offered one to each of them.

"I'm not going out for fun, and besides, even if I bring you along, you might not understand it."

"You think you're so capable?"

"Alright, I'm done arguing with you guys. I'm in a hurry. Come on, Jun-ge, let's go get some noodles first."

The night after the rain was pitch black, and the bumpy road was full of puddles.

Chen Jiazhi and Xue Jun didn't dare to ride fast anymore, and it wasn't until eight o'clock that they reached Zengcuo Road again.

Compared to the daytime, the three wholesale markets of Jiangnan, Yuexiu, and Dongwang are much busier in the early morning.

Chen Jiazhi rode his bicycle around all three markets again. The market aisles were full of tricycles, handcarts, and vegetable baskets, and there were still unsold vegetables on the stalls.

Some were packed in vegetable baskets, while others were sent from other places in styrofoam boxes.

In terms of scale and supply, this place has a larger selection and a more complete range of products; you can find most common vegetables available in China here.
The geographical advantages here are too obvious. It is close to the city center, making it convenient for vendors in the city to buy vegetables.

It is connected to the Guangzhou-Qingyuan Expressway, and can directly supply vegetables from vegetable bases in Foshan and Qingyuan;

There are railway stations nearby, and railway lines such as the Guangmao Railway and the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway can transport vegetables from provinces and cities along the line.

In addition, Baiyun District itself is an important vegetable base, and there are also small vegetable distribution centers near the three major markets.

And with Baiyun Airport, it could also be used for importing fruits and vegetables in the future.
With the support of various resource advantages, the vegetable trade in this area has developed exceptionally rapidly.

In contrast, the market in Haizhu was later converted into residential housing, but he didn't know exactly when it was demolished.

The stalls in the wholesale market are mostly rented out, not sold, because the land on which the market is built is mostly rented.

Therefore, in the short term, the stall No. 56 promised by Director Wang is quite attractive.

However, in the long run, the Jiangnan market is the preferred choice. The Jiangnan market is just starting out and faces competition from Yuexiu and Dongwang. There should be opportunities to enter the market in the next two years.

Chen Jiazhi even considered choosing Baiyun as the new base next year, but there is still time, and the base needs to be explored further. Staying in Nanpu is also an option.

However, he's a bit smaller now.

After looking around this morning, Chen Jiazhi counted them one by one and found that there were already fifty or sixty stalls operating in the Jiangnan Market.

They are all large stalls, and the owners of these stalls are all quite capable.

I occasionally chat with the owner, and he says that the stall's daily transaction volume has reached several tons, and sometimes even more than ten tons.

He also inquired about it yesterday, and the daily trading volume of the entire market should be around five or six hundred tons, which is roughly consistent with the information provided.

It's only been open for a short time, but its potential is clearly very high.

However, he didn't mention yesterday that he was a small-time vegetable farmer, and those in charge of attracting investment are still unaware of his capabilities, so there's still a possibility of him getting involved.

But after careful consideration, he decided to postpone it and make the Jiangnan market his long-term goal.

Once the base area is larger and the vegetable output is greater, then we can come to the Jiangnan market. If Jiangnan wants to stand out, it will probably take several more years. There is still plenty of time.

After leaving the market, the two rode into the city.

First, we arrived at Huacheng Railway Station, a few kilometers away, where countless people heading south to work disembarked.
Then we continued east along Huanshi East Road, which was the first CBD of Huacheng, and brought together iconic buildings such as the Garden Hotel, Baiyun Hotel, Libai Plaza, and Friendship Store.

About three kilometers later, we entered Tianhe Road, where urban construction was in full swing around the Tianhe Sports Center.

Along the way, Xue Jun chatted excitedly with him from time to time, and everything here amazed him.

But once past the stadium, vast stretches of farmland came into view.

Chen Jiazhi stood up on his old bicycle and gazed at the farmland for a while, where traces of last night's heavy rain were still visible.

He stopped the car and turned it around instead of continuing forward.

Xue Jun, who was following behind, also stopped: "Jiazhi, aren't we going to keep going? We should be able to make it back in time for lunch."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and said, "We need to go south to get back. Come on, just follow me."

Once again, we passed through the sports center and headed south, where there were vast stretches of farmland, mainly vegetable fields.

This area should become Zhujiang New Town in the future.

But now it's planted with green vegetables.

After riding for a while, Chen Jiazhi stopped outside a vegetable field and looked around at the nearby fields.

There was still noticeable water in the ditch. A simple shed stood in the middle of the vegetable field, with clothes drying outside and vegetable baskets scattered on the ground. The vegetable field was right outside the door, and young farmers were busy working in the fields.
Whether it's the vegetable fields or the living conditions, the conditions at the Dongxiang vegetable market are far superior to those here.

After all, Dongxiang Vegetable Market was once a base developed by the company.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi did not want to leave Dongxiang for the time being and needed to accumulate capital in the next year or two.

Some vegetable farmers also looked up and sized them up. Chen Jiazhi took out a cigarette and greeted them, "Fellow villagers, have a smoke. Where are you from?"

The man, wearing a white vest, walked over and said, "I'm from Jiangxi."

"Oh, I'm from Sichuan, and I also grow vegetables. How much is the land rent here?"

"That's 300 yuan. How about yours?"

"It's 280 yuan, but your location is closer to the city, making it more convenient to buy vegetables."

After a chat, Chen Jiazhi got a general understanding of the surrounding area. It wasn't suitable for him, and he estimated that the land would be expropriated in a few years.

If you want to locate a site around the Jiangnan Market, the best location would be in the western or eastern suburbs.

Or perhaps it's Zengcheng or Conghua, which are in the far suburbs. At this time, the brand of Zengcheng late-season cabbage had not yet been established.

But it's too far away.

Furthermore, late-season Chinese cabbage is only grown in autumn and winter, and summer-grown Chinese cabbage is of equally poor quality.
To build a base in Zengcheng or other remote suburbs, you need two things: trucks and stable stalls to sell your produce. Then you can focus on quality.

As for Panyu, it can also be considered as an alternative.
Throughout the journey, Chen Jiazhi pondered the issues of the market and the base.

It's not that he's fickle; the selection of market and base locations should be compared and compared repeatedly, and we should go wherever the overall conditions are better.

(End of this chapter)