---
title: "A Small Town Shop's Retail Story | Returning Home to Observe Retail"
description: "During the Spring Festival, the author visits a relative's small shop in a rural town and observes the changes in township retail. The shop, run by family for nearly 30 years, thrives by saving on labor and rent, offering familiar service, and adapting to local needs, while new retail platforms struggle to compete on price and stability."
author: "刘国正"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-08-07"
language: "en"
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---

# A Small Town Shop's Retail Story | Returning Home to Observe Retail

> During the Spring Festival, the author visits a relative's small shop in a rural town and observes the changes in township retail. The shop, run by family for nearly 30 years, thrives by saving on labor and rent, offering familiar service, and adapting to local needs, while new retail platforms struggle to compete on price and stability.

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In recent years, new retail has swept through cities like a wildfire, affecting countless households and bringing both significant impact and development opportunities to retailers. During the Spring Festival, I suddenly wanted to see the changes in my hometown's townships and their retail landscape. Coincidentally, a relative's family runs a shop that has been open for many years.
First, let me briefly introduce the basic situation of this small shop: it is located at the head of the village, not in the center, and sits beside a national highway. It is mainly operated by my cousin and uncle. The shop has been open for many years; my uncle started it when he was young, and now that my cousin and I have started our own families, the shop is still running well, nearly 30 years later.
**Key information extracted:**
**1. Location:** At the village head, by the national highway, not in the center like many village convenience stores. This strategic positioning allows it to capture two customer flows: village consumers and some passing motorists on the highway.
**2. Labor:** Operated by my cousin and uncle, with family members helping when needed. This saves on labor costs compared to most urban convenience stores and supermarkets. Of course, most retail shops in townships are run by family members, which not only saves labor but also reduces losses and other expenses.
**3. Rent:** The house is self-owned, so there is no rent, similar to many township retail shops.
**4. Operations:** Run by family members, without the systems, rules, and regulations of chain retailers, but far more meticulous, with lower losses, and more flexible, without any superficial formalities.
**5. Time:** I used to visit the shop as a child, and the main operator has shifted from my uncle to my cousin, spanning two generations. It's worth noting that the business acumen here is something all platforms aiming to enter rural retail should ponder deeply.
This is a photo of the storefront. Like many township stores, it has a simple and direct sign without extravagant decoration, unlike some urban convenience stores that invest heavily in unique designs. I recall a platform trying to unify storefront images and logos, but progress in townships was very slow, simply because it didn't meet local needs.
**Consumers are accustomed to this simple, direct, and low-key shopping atmosphere. If upgraded and beautified, they might feel uncomfortable, and some regular customers might even hesitate to enter.**
Especially since most customers are regulars, they care less about these external things.
I wonder how many peers remember this kind of shopping environment. When we were young, many small shops had cement floors and counters, which later changed to glass counters and wooden or metal shelves.
The abacus on the counter caught my attention. With computers, systems, and calculators so precise, why still use an abacus? The answer was that it's a habit of the older generation; the younger ones rarely use it.
This led to a discussion about systems. In recent years, various capital has entered the retail industry—some genuinely doing retail, some playing capital games, and some just expanding territory. Many offer free resources like systems and cash registers, but few shops in the villages use cashier systems. The main reason, as discussed, is that they don't need them because family members run the shop and keep clear records of every income and expense in their ledgers. Younger owners are open to systems, but mainly use them for cashiering and basic accounting. For detailed transaction records, inventory, and pricing, they rely on memory and can recite them instantly.
This is something many chain stores envy—**despite investing heavily in systems and training, they can never match this level of proficiency.** These small shop owners may not have the education or learning ability of our employees, nor exposure to advanced tools, but when it comes to real-world operations, they are not inferior; in fact, they are often better.
A few years ago, many platforms launched plans to renovate thousands of shops, especially mom-and-pop stores. But now, it seems these stores are not as fragile as imagined; some have even thrived amidst the turmoil.
Looking at the photos, Alipay and WeChat Pay have penetrated every corner of retail, even in rural areas. However, many elderly people still don't use these and prefer cash transactions.
In the early days, rural small supermarkets had various names: small shops, grocery stores, general stores, consignment shops, cooperatives... These names aptly reflected the range of goods sold.
Tobacco and alcohol are essential categories. Preferences vary by region, but in general townships, price remains the primary factor, aside from policy influences. In most rural areas, you rarely see liquor priced above 100 yuan per bottle; 60-70 yuan is considered relatively good. Liquor with rebates or prizes is most popular. I heard that years ago, Laocunzhang liquor used this tactic to penetrate rural markets—almost every bottle had a prize, making it very popular.
A notable change is breakfast. In the past, shops didn't sell breakfast, at most some steamed buns or pancakes. But now, baozi and youtiao have found a market. Every morning, they now stock some baozi to sell, which was unimaginable before. Reasons: many rural people didn't have the habit of eating breakfast, and they would make it at home. But as attitudes change, baozi and similar breakfast items are selling well, often sold out by 9 a.m. Of course, the variety is still relatively limited.
**Snacks are growing in proportion every year in rural areas. Although fewer young people remain in villages, both the elderly and those caring for children are increasingly accepting snacks. Milk, ham sausages, and small pastries are the most popular.** Price remains the primary factor. If you visit townships often, you'll see that bulk snacks priced under 10 yuan per unit, especially mixed small packages, have a strong market.
Food is still the primary need. Besides staples like steamed buns and pancakes, cold fresh meat and some basic cooked foods, as well as vegetables that are less commonly grown in rural areas (like mushrooms and celery), have stable sales. Long-established shops usually have accurate ordering for these categories, avoiding both shortages and leftovers.
When discussing breakfast and vegetables, I asked a question I was curious about: What are the current supply channels? Are there any platform partnerships?
Answer: For breakfast and some vegetables, they still go to the local wholesale market themselves. Other categories have fixed delivery from local merchants, mostly long-term partners.
Many B2B platforms are leveraging their integration advantages to seek partnerships with scattered merchants. Why do many partnerships fail or last only a short time?
The reasons are simple: **First, no price advantage; second, unstable cooperation; third, platforms don't understand the local market and environment.**
Many platforms claim abundant resources and scale, thus price advantages. But after talking with shop owners, it's clear that the prices offered by market platforms, when comprehensively calculated, are 3-5 percentage points higher than local wholesale or self-procurement. As for doorstep delivery, precise arrival, and efficiency improvements, these don't impress them. Saving money is their top priority, not saving effort.
As for unstable cooperation, many long-established shops have partners they've worked with for years, enjoying convenient policies and guaranteed quality. Many new platforms disappear within a year or two, disrupting original partnerships. So, many shops simply choose not to cooperate with new platforms, or only partially.
Regarding platforms not understanding the local market, this is a hard problem to solve in the short term. First, platforms may not realize what truly understanding the local market means. Second, some field staff are unwilling to lower themselves to learn about the shops they serve. How to precisely grasp regional and local nuances under scale and standardization is a long-term task and topic.
During the conversation, a seemingly funny case came up: a salesperson tried to supply cabbage, claiming it was 15% cheaper than all market suppliers. But he didn't realize that every household there grows their own cabbage.
As for revenue and profit margins, I didn't ask further. Obviously, if a shop can sustain for ten or more years, these aren't issues. Moreover, in rural areas, as long as they earn more than they would by working away from home, many are content.
Regarding value-added services, besides early services like phone top-ups and purified water, most township shops haven't adopted newer urban services. Whether it's because these service providers haven't expanded to these areas or the consumer market isn't mature, you can decide for yourself.
Afterwards, I also learned about other township shops through family and friends. Most situations are similar: labor is family; rent is mostly none or very low; customers are mostly regulars; supplies come from long-term local partners with some self-procurement; sales are stable without major fluctuations; they are cautious but not completely rejecting new platforms, and if they cooperate, price and stability are the most important factors.
I wonder what my retail peers think after reading this, especially those in B2B services. I recall a line from a sketch: "Do you think what you think is what you think?"
Our retail journey is truly long and arduous. There is much work to be done, many things to improve, and many people waiting for our service. In the new year, let's strive! Come on!
Source: New Retail (ID: ixinlingshou)


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