Zhongxin Jingwei, January 31 (Fu Yumei) Xue Ermao, who has been drifting north for many years, has returned to his hometown. Hejin, Shanxi, is a county-level city with a permanent population of less than 400,000 people. Unlike the trajectory of many young people in the area, he did not inherit the family business or enter the civil service, but decided to open a coffee shop.
Corner of the coffee shop Courtesy of the interviewee
Koko also returned to his hometown from Chengdu, Taile Village, Shifang Town. He transformed an old house that had fallen into disrepair into an afternoon tea restaurant. "In the village, will anyone come?" The doubts of parents are also the confusion of many people.
Xue Ermao and Koke's shop is the most common "net red shop" in the city. But back in the county, everything is different. The surrounding crowds have become native-born neighbors, and the "sense of superiority" has become an incomprehensible alternative culture. How many people can pay for the feeling of premium? Fleeing the city, these young people and lives made a new bet.
What kind of coffee shops do you need in a small town?
Sit in the courtyard, drink a cup of coffee, and listen to the music of the private tape. The sun is shining in the middle of the day, and when night falls, the starry sky is clearly visible overhead. This is Xue Ermao's daily life.
Many people say they envy such a "fairy" life, but Xue Ermao laughed at himself and said, "No one knows what I was thinking when I wiped the toilet." ”
In Beijing for 4 years, Xue Ermao has been working as a designer in a home furnishing company. Like most North Drifters, they live a busy and disorderly life, "no overtime is a holiday."
As the only son in his family, his reason for returning home is simple: he can't grow up fast enough to keep up with the speed of his parents' old age. "Selling a few houses in my hometown may only be enough for a down payment in Beijing." Can you bear to invest all the savings of your previous generation in you? ”
In April 2020, he resigned. The boss at the time asked him, "Can that little town meet your spiritual needs?" ”
Young people who have been immersed in urban culture, the most direct loss when they return to the small town is that they can't find a coffee shop. He found that there were more than thirty milk tea shops on a street, but few in the whole town actually made coffee. Shops with the word "coffee" have become blind dates here in order to meet the needs of the county town, most of which sell Western food.
Xue Ermao wanted to open a different store. "My original intention was also to have a place to live in a small town. Not only the coffee shop, but also my own studio. ”
Unexpectedly, he opened the store into a small alley far from the center and inconspicuous. "Ordinary people really can't find it when they come, so I have to go out and pick them up."
Recalling that when he first brushed the rental information, the words "lighting is particularly good" made him unable to move his eyes.
He used to live in a semi-basement. Only when you go out to get a courier and take out a takeaway, you can see the sun. At that time, he felt that basking in the sun was a very luxurious thing.
Now he has a whole courtyard of sunshine. The original annual rent was 9,000 yuan, perhaps because the place was too deserted, the landlord also gave him a reduction of 500 yuan.
Xue Ermao's coffee shop Courtesy of the interviewee
"I'm completely dependent on online customer acquisition, so I don't care about the location of the store at all." Not only that, but he also made a rule: the store must make a reservation to come. This is not uncommon in big cities, but it is less friendly in small towns where acquaintances come and go.
"The store is so biased that you still have to make an appointment, do you think anyone is still coming?" At first, the people here were also disgusted and thought it was too cumbersome. "For some local residents, a popular shop that can eat, chat and even bring a baby is very convenient, but what the coffee tastes like is less important."
"If the store is full of children running, crowds, noisy sounds, then the coffee shop loses its meaning. I insisted because I wanted to create a place where people could really rest their bodies and minds, even if it was time to read a book. Xue Ermao believes that the threshold of "reservation" can leave the environment of the coffee shop to those who need it.
"What kind of coffee shop do you think the town needs?" Hearing this question, Xue Ermao thought about it, "It is a gathering place for everyone's emotions and cultures, not just drinking a cup of coffee." What the small town really lacks should be such a place. ”
However, the town also lacks people who really understand him. On weekdays, most of the guests who come to the store are students. The peak period is naturally winter and summer vacations, because young people go home. Occasionally, there will be people from out of town who come to travel on business, want to find a coffee shop, and there are one or two elderly people who have returned from the north, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and have developed the habit of drinking coffee. Xue Ermao's happiest moment was to meet a confidant who loves coffee. Of course, he also directly rejected some customers who did not cooperate.
It's even harder to find a like-minded partner. "The last time someone came to apply, I asked you what you do, he said to do tuina, I asked you do coffee, he said he didn't understand. I said, hahaha then forget it. ”
Building a house is also healing oneself
Koko's decision sounded even crazier: He drove the afternoon tea restaurant into the countryside. At first, it was difficult for parents to understand, "How can anyone come to this?" But he didn't hesitate in the slightest.
Afternoon tea scene Courtesy of the interviewee
Majoring in music, he became a piano teacher after graduation. When studying and living in Chengdu, he has always been on the "right track" in the eyes of others. Only he knew that he was caught in an irrepressible anxiety - being chased by life every day, busy spinning, but not knowing what he really wanted.
Until later, he opened a two-month coffee pop-up shop and unexpectedly found a long-lost relaxation and investment. "That's how it feels," he decided to keep doing.
After being persuaded to leave by the city's expensive rent, he remembered the abandoned utility room in his hometown. "Sudden thoughts at the end of June 2021, no time to prepare. It should be planned on the first day and implemented the next day. Koko said. In less than 3 months, the "misunderstanding" courtyard was officially opened for soft opening.
Without hiring a designer or drawings, Koko transformed the old house according to his childhood memories. For example, in order to restore the scene of basking in the sun from the previous afternoon, he specially ran to find a master who would make old-fashioned bamboo chairs to customize a batch. During that time, he and his mother went around the village collecting old objects. A large, heavy and old stone mill was placed in the courtyard by him as a treasure.
Retaining the original main structure, the renovation of the old house is dominated by black and white tones. The remaining colors are mostly decorated with natural flowers and plants. "When we have the power to heal ourselves, life gets better and better." During the construction of the house, Koko felt that his heart was also repaired.
"Misunderstanding" in the corner of the courtyard Courtesy of the interviewee
However, the original red brick house outside the door, the cornfield, has always been in stark contrast to this "transformed" courtyard. Do people in the village think they're weird?
"I'm a more ego person. The starting point for renovating a house is to please oneself, so one does not think about the problem of not being understood. Attracting people of the same frequency is my original intention. Koko said.
Now Koko is busy arranging flowers and grass every day, cleaning the courtyard, receiving guests, and sometimes teaching piano at home. "There are fallen leaves, I will pick up fallen leaves with my mother, there is sunshine, move a stool to the yard to bask in the sun, there is rain, make a cup of hot tea and listen to the rain in front of the window."
One day, he suddenly understood why he "did not hesitate" to return to the countryside at that time: he did not like to fight for the Buddha, but what he wanted most was freedom.
Will the store always be "red"?
Opening a shop allows these young people to find a reason to stay in their hometown. A small shop with both their experience of city life and their feelings for their hometown.
Walk through the deep alley, into Xue Ermao's café room, on the right is a wall plastered with photos, all of which are the street scenes of Hejin. "Searching for the memory of Kawazu" has become one of the reasons for people to "punch in".
Xue Ermao's Street View Record Courtesy of the interviewee
By chance, Xue Ermao's café was sent to the hot search of the local life platform and became a well-known "net red" store.
It's not all accidental. After deciding to open a store, Xue Ermao attached great importance to the operation of the online platform. In addition to sharing coffee, he also updates his photos of Kawazu to various accounts from time to time. He feels that the audience he attracts online is more targeted.
What Koko must do every day is to reply to the private message of the Little Red Book on time, as well as to reply to WeChat messages, take photos, and write copywriting. The snow willows in the courtyard sprouted, the plums bloomed, and he recorded the changes of grass and trees like a diary, and also gained a group of fans.
Koko's daily records Courtesy of the interviewee
Among the guests he received was a local girl from Shifang, who enthusiastically brought his girlfriends and friends to the party to help him publicize. "Including helping me send vibrato, but also to help me reply to vibrato, back to the early morning." I remember she said, 'If you misunderstand the courtyard, you must have a big fire, and I must do my part.' This kind of fate that has never known each other is the most touching. ”
Therefore, online, Koko has never felt that the countryside is "very biased", but many people like him are looking for a long-lost sense of healing, and he is looking for such a "same frequency" person.
"Although it is a small place, the information that everyone has access to through major platforms is not backward, and most people will feel surprised and happy to see a small shop like mine in my hometown." Ruozhu, the owner of a living aesthetic space store in Xinchang County, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, also said that even if the store is opened into the countryside, as long as the online platform is well operated, there is no need to worry about customer flow.
However, opening a store cannot but consider long-term operation. Will the store always be "red"?
Wakasa originally wanted to create a comprehensive space that combines tea drinking and women's clothing, but she found that the customer base that "punched in" from online was still too young and the spending power was low. "The Japanese imported women's wear I want to do is basically a price that everyone can't accept, and the market hasn't done it."
Taking pictures and sending circles of friends, people went to the store to finish the "country dream" and left. "'Net red' stores often don't last long, and traffic is easy to dry up. I actually want the store to have its own core business, not limited to just punching a card. Wakatake said.
"Coffee is a more difficult track to do in the county, with a single customer group, large investment and slow returns." Xue Ermao is also thinking about how to expand the user base and build a cultural and creative brand in the future.
Because of the low rental cost, in the town, Xue Ermao can sell 30 cups of coffee a day, which is a good income. But is this the ceiling? Without suppliers, without joining, how to maintain it in the future?
In addition to these, that very strong belief has always supported Xue Ermao, "There must be coffee shops in the small town." "Young people need that culture." When there are more and more coffee shops, it means that more and more young people like me are returning to their hometowns. (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
(At the request of the interviewees, Xue Ermao, Keke, and Ruozhu are pseudonyms in the text)
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Editor-in-Charge: Wei Wei