In a small alley at the junction of Urumqi Road and Anfu Road in Shanghai, a red rope leads to a second-floor house.
This is the "customs clearance code" that only insiders understand, pull the red rope, the upstairs bell rings, the downstairs iron door opens, along the old dilapidated wooden staircase common in Shanghai LaoLi Lane houses to pick up the steps, a thin curtain has not yet been opened, you can hear a Shanghai uncle warmly greeted the movement: "Come and come, come in, come in, casually look at the good lak!" ”
This is Old Zhu's home
He lives here with his wife in his 70s
It's also their warehouse for thousands of old Shanghai objects
The 30 square meters of space, in addition to a bed and a walkway for one person to barely pass sideways, other spaces like Tetris games, neatly stacked up a variety of old objects produced in Shanghai in the 70s and 80s of the last century, of which glassware accounted for more than 90%.
In the film and television prop circle and the medieval store circle, the old Zhu family is a treasure-like existence. Wong Kar-wai filmed the TV series "Blossoms", more than once came to Lao Zhu's shop to look for things, in the filming scene, several cups and vases were swung towards the table, and the atmosphere of the old Shanghai era instantly came to the face.
The owners of many medieval shops are also long-term customers of Lao Zhu, and they always carry a large bag. In lao Zhu here, the 30 yuan cup, after repeated washing, dried, became as new as new, almost unable to see the traces of age. Vintage-shaped and floral cups are placed in trendy medieval shops in the popular neighborhood, and their value has doubled several times in an instant. Often things are sold out on the same day on the shelves, and it is no wonder that bosses like to come to Lao Zhu here to buy in bulk.
Old Zhu liked to be called James
This is his 80s
The English name I gave when I went to Australia to work
In the 1990s, Lao Zhu, who had gone out to open his eyes, returned to Shanghai and found a thriving and prosperous scene in Shanghai, so he simply stayed at home and did not go out. At that time, the largest flower and bird market in Shanghai was opened on Jiangyin Road, where Lao Zhu's friend set up a shop, and as soon as there were foreign guests patronizing, he pulled "James" to do a temporary translation. Old Zhu's mind was active, and he found that there were business opportunities in the middle, so he simply went to the sea and started his "stall training career" on Jiangyin Road.
The market on Jiangyin Street has long ceased to exist, but Lao Zhu's in and outgoing goods channels have accumulated, and he continues to run a business of receiving and sending old goods at home. At the earliest downstairs access control is not very bright, he made a red rope swing down, sent old goods to the vendor, the store that came to the store as long as the red rope downstairs, he knew to open the door.
Everything was taken back, and Lao Zhu had to wash it carefully, and he invented a lot of gadgets for this.
Who knows, their own small business is getting more and more prosperous
In the past two years, I have come to the door
More and more young people are visiting to pick up small things
Lao Zhu's warehouse has become a "treasure secret" spread by young people, and this red rope has also become a special prop to the "secret realm".
So many young people like his collection, Old Zhu did not expect it. In the past, these things circulated in the hands of old collectors, and they also existed to meet the needs of film and television crews to shoot period dramas. In the past two years, the pursuit of "national tide" and retro goods has made Lao Zhu busy with the collection and the big and small things in the family every day, but also allocate a large piece of time and energy to receive individual customers who visit the door, most of whom are young people.
"You ask me why young people like these old things
Actually, I don't know. ”
Old Zhu just felt
The things he bought and sold were never outdated
"You see this cup, Mondrian, (the print of the cup imitates Mondrian's series of paintings with colorful squares), and this, the Christmas theme, these cups are from Shanghai in the 80s. No more now! I've done it for so many years and I've seen it set like this. You look at these old vases of mine, put in their LableHood (a well-known fashion buyer's clothing store in Shanghai), it was originally a decoration on the table, oh, and the result was that the guests had to buy it, they had to sell it to the guests, you see, put in their shop? ”
According to Lao Zhu, his collections also have a strong social attribute for this year's young people.
"You see me in this thermos, taunting?" Brand new from the inside out, the qualified paper from the factory is still there! Oh, how many people have in their hands, how many I want. Before there were Guests from Beijing who wanted to go to Zhejiang to attend a friend's wedding, they bent over to my shop and carried two hot water bottles as a wedding gift. The Beijing guest later told me that his friend had died happily and put two hot water bottles in the bedroom as ornaments. You said that giving red envelopes at the wedding, wrapping a 1000, 2000 is what is strange? But you send a kettle and they think of you every day they see it at home, and it feels different. ”
In this way, Lao Zhu became a bridge between Shanghai's old objects and fashionable young people, and according to him, although he was confused and mistakenly hit, he was also full of joy.
As he grew older, Lao Zhu was busy with things inside and out of his home every day, and he gradually felt that he would inevitably be powerless in the future. "But I'm not worried, people have long talked to me, and when I can't do it one day, I will pack it all at once and accept it all."
Old Zhu is also very affordable:
"I do this thing
Now accompanying your wife to the hospital can also 'pull the head'
What's not to like
The key is to earn money."
"The guests are all picking good things to buy, how can I keep it here." Some customers buy a batch of things at once, and when I see that he is refreshed, he will come up with some good things. They will not let go of it after seeing it, wrap the baby at the bottom of my pressure box in one breath, then the part I picked before will not be wanted, and I will not be angry", Lao Zhu said and smiled.
The original manuscript of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News is strictly prohibited from being reprinted without authorization
Author: Dong Tianye
WeChat Editor: Miss Pi
Proofreader: Jia Simin