Fang Bai returned home, pondering the issues of land acquisition and expansion funds.
Bank loans alone wouldn't be enough, and what if the loan didn't come through?
Therefore, just the shopping mall making money wasn't enough; it would be best to have new points of wealth growth.
Before the Spring Festival, Fang Bai had thought about organizing a Spring Festival event, specifically a scratch-off lottery.
He was too busy before the Spring Festival to bother, but now that the New Year was over, he could spare time to plan it.
The purpose of organizing a big prize scratch-off lottery was, first, of course, to raise money, and second, to use this event to brand the shopping mall and attract popularity.
Fang Bai still remembered the scratch-off lottery events of the 1990s, such as "2 Yuan to Win a santana," "2 Yuan to Win 10,000 Yuan in Cash," and "2 Yuan to Change Your Destiny," which sparked a buying craze that emptied the streets, with countless people lining up to snatch up tickets, a dense mass of heads exuding a steaming desire to win.
The first batch of "lottery tickets" in China appeared on the streets of Shicheng in 1987, with a first prize of up to 2,000 Yuan.
Subsequently, lotteries began to be gradually promoted nationwide, but people didn't understand them; hearing that they could win a big prize for two yuan, passersby looked at them as if they were swindlers.
The market truly opened up and rapidly became popular around 1992, with on-site scratch-offs and immediate prize redemption, meaning scratch-off events where generous prizes were displayed on site, visible and tangible.
If Fang Bai were to organize one now, he would arrange large color TVs, washing machines, bicycles, and even santana cars, among other grand prizes, in rows and columns on site, creating an eye-catching effect, plug in a recorder with earth-shattering music, and set up an award stage, inviting staff to bring winners onto the stage, loudly announce the winners' prize money or items, drape them with red sashes, and send them home with gongs and drums, constantly stimulating the "get rich overnight" nerves of the people below, encouraging their consumption, and the scene would surely be even more frenzied, definitely sparking a buying craze that would empty the streets.
Of course, organizing such scratch-offs also harmed many people who wanted to get rich quickly; some families used all their savings to buy scratch-off tickets.
Fang Bai was a bit conflicted: should he do it or not?
If he didn't do it, someone else certainly would.
Moreover, if he did it, he would also allocate a portion of the funds to donate to impoverished students and contribute to national taxes.
Thinking this way, Fang Bai felt less guilty and instead felt it was a good deed benefiting the people.
In reality, a city can only withstand one crazy scratch-off event.
If Fang Bai were to do it, it would be Wen City's first, and given the general wealth of Wen City residents, it would be hard for him not to get rich quickly.
Generally speaking, if the maximum prize value of such an event is too high, it must be approved by the industrial and commercial department, and even by the Welfare Lottery Center.
However, the current welfare lottery mechanism is not yet mature, and there is no such agency in Wen City, so Fang Bai only needed approval from the industrial and commercial department to organize a large prize scratch-off event.
Of course, it would be best to get the support of the County Leader and some departments; otherwise, accidents could easily occur.
Therefore, Fang Bai not organizing it during the Spring Festival before establishing connections with the County Leader was also an important reason. As long as he had the county's endorsement, everything would be easier; he had to proceed step by step.
Fang Bai already had a plan on how to discuss it with the County Leader, but he had to wait until the investment in Xinghai Plaza was finalized.
As for the location of the event, holding it around the shopping mall would be ideal.
However, this requires a spacious open area; the mere one or two thousand square meters in front of the shopping mall's facade would certainly not be enough. There are indeed enough open spaces to the east and south of the shopping mall, totaling one or two hundred mu, which have already been leveled and are covered with grass; a little tidying up would make them usable.
Alternatively, leveling the dozens of mu of grassland behind the shopping mall would be sufficient.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to find a large flat area in the county seat.
Holding the scratch-off event near the shopping mall is the best way to attract people to the mall; no other promotional method is crazier than this.
The temptation of rapidly accumulating funds was before him, and it was also the best opportunity to make the shopping mall quickly popular throughout the city. The timing was just right, and he didn't want to miss it.
Thinking of this, Fang Bai went to prepare.
Now there were two challenges: first, the event approval, and second, the current shortage of materials, making procurement difficult, and with such large quantities, manufacturers might not have the stock.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, he received a call from Li Bo, informing him that several County Leaders would be visiting Xinghai Shopping Mall for inspection at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
...
The next day,
Around ten o'clock, Fang Bai and his father waited outside the main gate, both dressed in formal attire today.
Fang Shi was greeting county government leaders for the first time and was a bit nervous, constantly wiping his forehead with his hand.
His son had told him about this last night, which kept him from sleeping well, and he spent a long time choosing a shirt.
He only had one suit, but several shirts, and he didn't know what color to choose.
His son told him to pick any one and that he didn't need a tie; since the weather was cold, he could wear a wool sweater over the shirt.
Time passed quickly, and as it approached ten o'clock in the morning,
A santana car and a small bus stopped one after another in front of the main gate of Xinghai Shopping Mall, and Fang Bai and his father stepped forward to greet them.
The leaders who came this time included County Head Gu Wen, Executive Deputy County Head Lin Bo, and Deputy County Head Li Bo. In addition, there were also leading officials from departments such as Land and Resources, Urban and Rural Planning and Construction, and Investment Promotion.
Mo Yang, as the intermediary, introduced the main personnel from both sides.
Standing at the front were undoubtedly the highest-ranking leaders, with personnel from other departments standing in the second row.
The County Head was relatively young, about one meter seventy tall, only forty years old, slightly thin, wearing a dark Zhongshan suit jacket, standing most prominently at the front of the inspection team.
"A pleasure to meet you, a pleasure to meet you. Welcome, leaders, to Xinghai Shopping Mall for inspection and guidance."
Fang Bai revealed a warm, sunny smile, stepped forward to shake hands with Gu Wen first, then with Lin Bo and other leaders, and at the same time directly gave his two detection opportunities for the day to the two County Leaders.
Oh, if he didn't use them, it would be a waste of his Golden Finger ability.
"Mr. Fang, hello. Your shopping mall's business is very good, indeed."
Gu Wen spoke first, with a kind smile on his face. He had briefly observed after getting out of the car and noticed that many customers were already selecting goods in the mall at this time.
Yesterday, he had already received the information about Xinghai Company. This was a rapidly developing company; the father and son refurbished imported old televisions, and in just three or four months, they had accumulated a large amount of wealth, owning a large electronics shopping mall, with an astonishing rate of earning money.
As for refurbishing imported televisions, Gu Wen didn't think much of it; they earned money through technology, and the selling price was very low, benefiting the public, and they also actively paid taxes.
The electronics advertisements circulating in the streets and alleys of Wen City during this period were from Xinghai Shopping Mall.
He had even heard the loud speakers shouting once or twice while working in his office; he truly didn't know how to describe it.
According to the investigated information, this shopping mall's business was very popular.
Indeed, that was the case.
"Without the county's good policy support and a stable public security environment, how could there be a thriving Xinghai Shopping Mall?" Fang Bai said with a beaming smile.
Upon hearing this, Gu Wen couldn't help but admire how good this young man was at flattery; he didn't praise him directly, but the first sentence was essentially praising his effective governance.
So, Gu Wen's smile broadened, and he laughed even more happily: "This is also what we should do. We will continue to work hard to provide better development opportunities for all enterprises and institutions in the county."
After the pleasantries, Fang Bai and his father took the leaders on a tour of the shopping mall, introducing products and emphasizing product quality, service attitude, and after-sales service.
"To protect our customers' rights, if a customer buys something and discovers a quality issue, we offer a full refund within three days," Fang Bai said, standing in front of the new television display counter area. "Of course, if there's human damage or scratches, we can't do anything about it.
During this period, a total of two customers returned televisions, and we refunded them the full amount."
Gu Wen was slightly surprised and praised, "Oh, you've done that very well."
"We're in it for the long run, so we must have a good reputation. In the next step, we still need to continuously improve our after-sales service and service attitude. The shopping mall has only been open for a few days, and there are still quite a few issues."
"Hmm, daring to face problems is very rare. Only by continuously improving and perfecting can you increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
I believe that through your efforts, Xinghai Shopping Mall will definitely become a shopping mall trusted by customers," Gu Wen said approvingly.
Next, after touring the shopping mall, everyone came to the open space on the west side of the mall for inspection.
Fang Bai stood in front of the open space and briefly explained his concept of Xinghai Plaza to Gu Wen.
Half an hour later, Gu Wen concluded his inspection and returned to the county compound for a meeting to discuss the visit, declining Fang Bai's invitation for lunch.
Before leaving, he told Fang Bai that he invited Fang Bai to his county office at two o'clock in the afternoon for a more detailed discussion.