Just stepping into 2020, the news of the closure of old stores has been heard
The herbal tea shop “Yang Chunlei”, which opened in Wan Chai for 106 years, will close before the Lunar New Year. Zhuang Tailiang, the executive director of the Institute of Global Economics and Finance of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that most of the old shops were closed because no one inherited them. Retire without worrying about inheritance.
The Hong Kong veteran store record Facebook post states that the shop of the century-old Yang Chunlei herbal tea is a self-owned property, avoiding the pressure of rent, but the boss closed for personal reasons.
Self-owned shop herbal tea shop closed for personal reasons
According to local media, the closing date depends on the stock of medicinal materials in the store, at the latest 30 years old, but there is an opportunity to advance early, and the current location of the store will be temporarily rented out.
Looking back on 2019, there are also many old stores that closed. The 35-year-old Shunde restaurant, Prince Phoenix City Restaurant, closed in December last year as its boss announced his retirement. The China Ice Room, which opened in 1964, also closed in December last year because of no successor.
Inheritance has always been a difficult problem for many old shops. Zhuang Tailiang said that the old-fashioned restaurants insist on manual production and it is difficult to produce in large quantities. In addition, most of them rely only on the boss or one or two chefs. If the boss retires or the chef resigns, it will be easy to close the business.
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As for the way to negotiate with the buyer to maintain the business, Zhuang believes that the desire of the old-fashioned stores is low, because the brand is linked to the reputation of the boss, and many bosses worry that the quality will decline after the sale, if it is not sold well For the price, it is better to be glorious.
Zhuang Tailiang suggested that the old store should change its business strategy, such as canning the product, it can kill a way out. He exemplified that Lanfang Garden, which opened in 1952, created packaged milk tea, jumped stocking milk tea out of Hong Kong-style tea restaurants, and even entered the Taiwan market. He also pointed out that Cantonese restaurants or noodle shops could follow the example of the mainland hot pot restaurant Haidilao and pack signature secret soup bases for retail sale.
In fact, while many old shops are closing, many old shops can continue to survive. The key is whether the old shops have a transformation intention and corresponding technical support.