On the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, 624 on Changle Road opened its doors to welcome guests. Sharp-eyed visitors noticed that the words "road shop" on the house sign were missing.
"624changle & Highway Shop", which is the most popular Shanghai street liquor store on Xiaohongshu and Douyin in the past two years. The 20-square-meter shop is filled with thousands of liquors. At night, young people come here like a rising tide, buy good wine, sit on the road teeth in pairs, touch the bottle with pleasure, and the air is filled with cheerful and lazy atmosphere, which is said to be a social way for young people.
Not long ago, the WeChat public account "Road Shop" published an article - "Road Shop Farewell to Changle Road 624". Many people specially ran to Changle Road to ask for verification: "Is 624 going to close?" The shopkeeper Lao Huang shook his head: "No matter! We're just going back to the way we were. ”
In November last year, I visited the shop, only to see that the word "highway" had been removed, and the door was still very lively, but everyone did not sit on the road and stood under the plane tree to drink. A week later, the new sign "Changle 624" was hung up, with the middle note "since 2004". Lao Huang sighed: "In 2004, we opened a shop here and stayed in Changle Road for 18 years. ”
The new door is back to the original.
The new stores marked with the "Highway Shop" logo have been opened in 4 stores on South Shaanxi Road, Xiangyang North Road and Maoming Road. What is the relationship between this old shop on Changle Road and the "road shop", and why do you have to say goodbye to the "road shop"?
From fruit shops to liquor convenience stores
Passing through "Changle 624", it is easy to be circled at first glance.
A tall plane tree perfectly shades the storefront, and shelves are filled with various brands of wine, craft wine, whiskey, wine, sparkling cider, sake, non-alcoholic drinks, etc. Countless polaroids are plastered around the corners, and the store doors are plastered with dazzling poster logos. There are no dim lights and psychedelic music, but there is an indescribable sense of city and modernity.
The expression of the city blends into the corners and corners of the 624. Photo by Wang Haiyan
"624 wasn't designed to be like this all of a sudden, but slowly became like this." While chatting with the guests, Ying Jie emphasized "style".
More than 20 years ago, she and her husband Lao Huang left the rural areas of Zhejiang and came to Shanghai. Around the turn, Ying Jie took a fancy to Changle Road, they rented the storefront of No. 624, living upstairs, and opening a shop downstairs.
At first, Lao Huang and Ying Jie sold fruits and flowers, the business was quite good, and the couple took root on Changle Road. In 2013, the gradual rise of e-commerce, the flower business was affected, they stopped selling flowers, only to do fruit business.
During these years in Shanghai, Yingjie learned Shanghainese, and most of the couples on Changle Road were familiar with it. The leaves of the plane tree fell yellow, fell and yellow, and the people who opened a shop together on Changle Road changed several stubbles, and gradually, Ying Jie felt that her hands and feet were not as neat as before, "My waist is not very good, the fruit can't be moved, and I feel that I can't do it."
She and Lao Huang thought about the transformation, this turn, the span is quite large, "because Lao Huang likes to drink, ah, we try to sell wine, Changle Road customers are also good."
The original style of the sake brewery was a cigarette paper shop. There are many old customers of Lao Huang and YingJie, and everyone likes to go to the store to chat a few words. The liquor store initially had no name, and a university professor who often came to buy wine said that the name 624 was good, and Lao Huang and Ying Jie also felt good, and 624 was called up.
Old Huang and Yingjie
The space of 624 is small, the guests bought wine and liked to say a few words of greeting, and Lao Huang and Ying Sister set up a few tables and stools at the door. "But this seat has always been empty, and they are not particular, they like to sit on the road teeth."
This treasure shop on Changle Road was quickly discovered by people with hearts. A team that registered the "Highway Shop" brand opened a WeChat public account called "Road Shop", which flaunted a different attitude to life, and in their eyes, the 624 on Changle Road was very much in line with the tone they wanted.
"They and Lao Huang got acquainted, and after a discussion, we hung up the name 'Road Shop' in the store." Ying Jie said.
Can't sit on the road?
In the summer of 2018, "Changle 624" hung a new sign - "624changle & Road Shop".
The name "Road Shop" sounds very personal, and the public name declares that it landed the first real "road shop". The elements of 624 also have a special "interpretation".
Every time you come for a drink, it can be a condensed version of a road movie.
Lao Huang didn't care about these, the people who came were happy to drink and chat happily, and he thought it was very good. The old yellow hair is medium and long, quite Hong Kong style, the memory is amazing, and he can remember the face that has come once.
In the storage room on the side of 624, Lao Huang quickly finished his dinner. I made a pot of tea and walked slowly to the counter. "Why don't you drink some wine?" "I have to do business." Lao Huang squinted his eyes, he usually had a few drinks with regular customers at the end of the meeting, "I will drink myself to a very comfortable state." ”
Old Yellow for Halloween
There were already quite a few people in the shop, And Lao Huang nodded with them, many of whom he knew. First-time visitors will ask Lao Huang to take a picture of himself. Lao Huang chose the angle and skillfully pressed the pat on the stand. The expression of a city was born, left on the walls of 624, on the wine racks, and even on the ceiling and chandeliers, and became part of 624 like every bottle of wine here with a different life.
The terrain of Changle Road is very interesting. This is a road at the junction of Jing'an and Xuhui, 624 belongs to Jing'an, and the other side of the road belongs to Xuhui. If the urban management and the cityscape come to inspect, they are also two groups of people. When the Chengguan of Jing'an District arrives, the crowd will consciously move to the Xuhui District across the road to drink.
The zone at the junction of districts is often a management vacuum, which may be one of the reasons why 624's business is booming. Upstairs lived in the small shop were residents, with drying racks sticking out obliquely and drying their clothes and pants. With the popularity of 624, there are more complaints from residents.
"It used to be managed, but now it's more strictly managed." The cashier at Liangyou Supermarket said, "Old morning, 624 opened until two o'clock at night, and now it is early." ”
Today's counters say "Please don't sit on the road!" ”。 Photo by Wang Haiyan
"The road teeth are not good to sit now!" Ying Jie pointed to the tips on the counter to remind guests, which read" Do not sit on the road teeth, the store closes at 23 o'clock." This is the self-discipline of Changle 624, and it can also be understood as a way of survival rooted in Changle Road for more than ten years.
Although you can't sit on the road, it doesn't affect the interest of the visitors, and everyone stands under the plane tree to chat and drink.
Ying Jie's smile
At 9:30 p.m., the 624 gate was full of people.
"This is skateboarding, this is tattooing." A "post-00s" local boy pointed to a sticker on the window at the door and said. He wore a sweatshirt, a hat, and a small red bag straddling obliquely. His companion, a boy born in '98, wore a small pigtail behind his head, his hair was slightly curled, and his sleeves were rolled up to reveal his tattoos.
Each sticker of the 624 has a provenance. Photo by Wang Haiyan
It turns out that there is a source behind each sticker. I asked Lao Huang if he could understand it, and he shook his head: "You should ask these young people, our store is a common creation of everyone." ”
Directly opposite 624 is the Weihuang Guangdong Pavilion, which is rich in drunken chicken pot and pot rice. Business in the shop is very good, and there are queues at peak times. Some people say that the popularity of this section of Changle Road seems to have gathered in these two face-to-face shops.
Further to the left, or to the right, there are countless carb restaurants, bun shops, wonton shops, beef noodles, Sichuan restaurants... I asked several shopkeepers and said they were going to drive until 5 a.m.
I said to My sister, "You have brought fire to these small shops around you." Sister Ying didn't think so, "They also brought fire to us." ”
The streets of winter are steaming cold, but here is steaming - office workers who have just finished their work, men and women with full personalities, uncles who walk on slippers, students from nearby universities, foreigners of different nationalities, tourists who come to punch in the clock........ Everyone stood together in pairs, like old friends who had known each other for many years.
424 displays thousands of kinds of drinks, the hidden wine list is Lao Huang's exclusive "boss special", and the hot wine cooked by Yingjie herself in winter is also a hit. When you don't know what to drink, it is better to choose a bottle at random and feel the joy and excitement of opening the blind box.
The mouth of the flower seller is like honey, which is difficult to refuse. Photo by Wang Haiyan
At 10 o'clock in the evening, the flower seller grandma appeared, and at the age of fifty or sixty, she also appeared in a group. A group of young people with trolley boxes formed a circle around the plane tree, and the aunt stuffed a flower into each hand to wish them a bright future. "This rose is very lined with you! May your life be happy! "Grandma's mouth is like honey, she presented the QR code together, so that you can't bear to refuse."
A man in a yellow sweater said that this was the last stop before leaving Shanghai, and everyone came here with a trolley box to punch in, and then went to different cities with the breath of 624.
Some people say that drinking on 624, like buying a cup of coffee every day, has become a way of life, which is a "field" of life rather than a "field" of wine. @Zhou Baibai black black
The empty wine bottles in the roadside box gradually increased, and Ying Jie began to sweep the sycamore leaves on the road. Some people were slightly drunk, and she would come forward to help them. A college boy carrying a school bag has just turned 20. He took a bottle of beer from the freezer, called "Pure Love", and took a sip of it. "This is my first drink! I'm out of love! ”
A few bottles down, the boy's footsteps are a little toe, Ying Jie handed over a bottle of mineral water, let the fellow boys quickly send him back. The taxi came and the boy waved to Yingjie: "Thank you, I will come back next time." ”
Sister Ying smiled: "I have seen too many people who have lost love here, but there are also those who have been negotiated in 624." She is the confidant sister of 624, and her warm smile reminds people of the winter sunshine.
A regular customer who works nearby said that there was a time when the work was particularly unsmooth, and he wanted to find someone to talk to, but he didn't know how to say it, and it was best to exchange a painless secret with unfamiliar people. Coming to 624 after work for a drink became his habit. "The city is changing too fast, but seeing Ying Jie and Lao Huang there, I have a little bit of certainty in my heart."
Road shops go and stay
624 is getting hotter and hotter, many people come to visit, Lao Huang looked at the words "highway shop", faintly felt uneasy.
In the late autumn of 2021, around Changle Road, road shops are "growing madly", and four or five have popped up at once. There is a newly opened wine house on Maoming Road, only 5 minutes away from Changle 624, just a turn away.
A few road shops have just emerged. Photo by Wang Haiyan
These stores and 624 are like, nor are they. The design of the store is more modern, and more trendy gadgets have been added, and some fashion concepts have been played. The "42-Highway Shop" on Maoming South Road is a barbershop during the day and a tavern at night. When people who drink there will change venues, when they transfer to Changle 624, Lao Huang will sometimes ask them, "Are there many people over there?"
These branches copied many elements of 624, such as the plane tree in front of the door, such as taking photos of Stand, such as various poster logos. But some things can't be copied.
"Lao Huang is a little worried." 624 A regular customer pointed to Lao Huang and Ying Jie. "You say, what is the soul of a shop?" Be the owner! It's a home away from home for a drink. Those new shops are employees looking at the store, it's different. ”
The "road shop" claims on the Internet that the 20-square-meter store is a spiritual gas station, a free ATM machine, a ferry port linking the city club, and they want to connect countless 20-square-meter stores and turn the city into a paradise.
Lao Huang listened and smiled: "This is not the same as the store we want to open, we don't have these things, we don't understand these words, but the business always has to be done, we still focus on opening a store." ”
Ying Jie said more honestly, "If I were still selling fruit, I would feel that I was still a village woman, but over the years, I have continued to grow with this shop and am also transforming." She agreed with Lao Huang's "keeping the shop", "It's easy to open a shop, but it's hard for you to keep a shop, all we can do is keep the shopkeeper." This shop is the size we wanted. ”
Last November, Lao Huang took the words "road shop" off the signboard. At the same time, the "Highway Shop" announced that the cooperation authorization with No. 624 Changle Road had officially expired, and there was no longer a direct cooperative relationship between the two sides.
The word "highway" of Changle 624 was once removed. Photo by Wang Haiyan
A week later, Lao Huang hung the name "Changle 624" on the storefront, and in order to emphasize the provenance and history, he specially cared for the designer to indicate "since 2004".
Yes, this store has been open on Changle Road for 18 years. In an era when everything is easy to copy, 18 years of precipitation is difficult to copy, which is also the kind of irreplaceable atmosphere that guests care about. Old Huang Yingjie's not very young face, the traces of their 18 years of hard work on this street, and the accumulated nagging of customers, are deeply integrated with this street.
Lao Huang and Ying Jie were in love with each other.
"What was the name of the fruit shop you opened?" I asked.
Lao Huang motioned for me to look at the old photograph.
On the removed signboard "624changle & Road Shop", there are a few small words hidden in the left corner - "Changle Fruit Shop". It turned out that Lao Huang and Ying Jie had never forgotten the past.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Wang Haiyan Text Editor: Wang Haiyan Title Image Source: Provided by the interviewee
文内照片王海燕摄，以及受访者提供 Source: Author: Wang Haiyan