A series of miracles

A series of Miracles

We have felt cramped in our store.  Even my apartment spare room is filled and overflowing.  As I have invested earned money back into the business, we have acquired more appliances and gadgets.  In our efforts to be more cost efficient, we are buying our food supplies in bulk, much of which comes home with me until we need it.  Little by little, the bakery is appearing more and more ‘cozy’.  Read, ‘cluttered’. 

“XiaoLan”, I said, bent elbows pushing out against imaginary walls, “we need more space.”

Two serious considerations applied in our search for more space.  One, our severe lack of capital funds.  Two, our need to stay in the same location, for all those folks who told us it took them so long to find us.  We wouldn’t want to disappear and make them search all over again.

Over the months, a shop three doors up towards the north came up for rent.  It was too expensive, because you could see it from the street in the openings between the two buildings.  This was a desirable advantage, but we couldn’t raise the funds.

Two years ago when we opened, the two shops south of mine were vacant.  The furthest had never been used. The latter was slightly deeper than mine, perhaps 60 sq meters to my 50 sq meters.  It was bare white walls and bands of red pipes across the ceiling.  The shop directly next to ours southward had been remodeled, and then the shopkeeper changed her mind and never opened a shop there.  She was holding the shop ransom for a huge sum of money.  It didn’t matter, because at that time all our funds were tied up and we had no way to finance its acquisition.  At that time I envisioned us connecting and moving into all three shops, with a great concept.  Similar to a small chain called ‘Bookworm’, it would be a cultural center that also provided food.

Then last summer I noticed activity at the shop furthest south of we three.  I watched as carpenters created a bar, rounded the edges smooth and stained it dark mahogany.  They built boxes and diamonds on the wall behind the bar, for the bottles that were to come.  As I chatted with the young woman overseeing the work, I said jocularly, when in six months you decide to close, please remember me.  I’ll make you an offer.

Bless her heart, during the ensuing year we noticed very few customers coming to her darkened night space.  She stuck it out a full year.  At the end of that first business year, she put the ‘for rent’ sign up.

We tried to talk with her.  Randy stepped in and did some heavy serious negotiations.  His skills have been honed by years of negotiating for factory space, and outfitting factories.  He knows the cost of things, and has valuable experience negotiating with the Chinese.  He knows the Chinese equivalent of ‘you’ve been scalped’, useful when she told us how much she paid to remodel the place.  I looked at what money I could scrape together in the States, between my retirement social security check and the rent from my Florida house, and settled on 30,000 rmb as my line.  She lowered her sights to 50,000.  And there we stood. 

Honestly, the space was not a very good one for us. It would need a lot of renovation to use either as a deli, Randy’s idea, or as a bakery outlet.  Meantime, it could only be used for storage, and as a packaging and shipping station once all our delivery orders came in.  I was simply thinking to hold it until the middle shop became available too, and then expanding.

The standoff continued into a new month, the barkeep had to pay the landlord.  I thought she’d cave.  She dug her heels in and waited for someone who wanted a bar.  I thought it is a stupid location for a bar, in the midst of boutiques and nail salons; no one would be such a fool.

I was wrong.  Perhaps it was a wealthy relative who stepped in.  I don’t know.  One day I saw someone unpacking new wicker-style chairs and small round tables.  This was the new owner, and he was adding a couple of outdoor tables.  This is a good idea!  When we first rented our space the management office was reluctant to allow outdoor seating and service, but over the years they have changed their thinking.  We also have a table outside every day.  Though it is not often used, it serves as a landmark.

But before this event, I noticed that the tea shop two doors to the north had a for-rent sign on the window.  I did not hesitate.  I went in and started making enquiries.  They invited me to sit down at their long table and drink tea with them.  Ah, this reminded me of my first year in China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong, where tea tasting was a rich cultural tradition.  I sat comfortably, having my tea cup filled and refilled.  We talked about tea, and other light banter, and occasionally about their plans.

In the end, I stood to go, and I asked them to take down the for-rent sign.  There had already been other enquiries from people more alert than me, so they said.  They made no promises, and then I realized my request had to be accompanied by cash.  They were asking 26,000 for renovations on 145 sq meters.

I slept on it.  I talked with Randy about it.  He and I had been having conversations over many weeks, over many cups of coffee, about how he could best make his meats more available.  He needed a commercial base of operation. He shared a couple of his dreams.  At first, he loved the idea of opening a deli.  He felt there was a need for such a unique and western shop.  We tossed that one around for a couple of days.  Then he drifted away from that, and eyed a larger shop to the south that was not available.  There, he said, he'd like to open a dry goods store for hard-to-find western goods.  I nodded, but silently didn't think much of that idea.

This tea shop offered an attractive option.  At 145 square meters, this space is large enough to house his frozen and fresh-smoked sausages and meats.  If we build a small kitchen in the store room in back, we could make sandwiches and some hot dishes that highlighted his meats.  There was plenty of room for tables and chairs.  We only had two tables and six chairs acquired from Silvio’s Bistro, and two folding tables.  That could be a start.

We would keep the current smaller shop as a ‘factory’.

 

New and Old, Han Dan and Randy

AT this same time I received a text message from Han Dan.  She is a young lady who, a year ago, came to us excited about her plans to open a small café in the South Street (nan da jie) shopping mall, downtown Changzhou.  She wanted to sell some of our products there.  We got to know her over the year.  Nearly every month she would place a small order with us, for brownies and cookies, sometimes muffins.  She is a bubbly person, with a good head on her shoulders and lots of optimism. 

In her message she said she would like to work with me. “I want make a job” I had to read between the lines. She reworded it.  “Can I work for you?”  She tried again in Chinese, my iPhone translated this as “I could go to work that thing you.”

I replied, “ha ha.  Are you giving up on your café”  But the between-the-lines was seeping into my brain, so I added ‘we are expanding.  I will need a good manager very soon.”  She replied, “I will Learn”  “do my best”  So I replied, “come see me when you have time”  She whipped back, “1:00 p.m.”

So she came, and we talked. 

She had indeed decided to call it quits after a year.  She needed to empty out her shop, because the people interested in renting it wanted a dance studio there.  She said she wanted to give me three tables and six benches.  And if I was interested, she had three more small tables and five chairs, that weren’t worth much but I could have them free.

We hopped on our ebikes and rode into the city.  I finally got to see her shop.  I had wanted to visit her many times, but never could figure out where the shop was.  She was unable to give me directions to it.  Now she led me there, and I realized it was right behind WalMart.  It would have been easy to find, had I taken the time to call her when I was in the city center. It was much smaller than I had imagined, but just as cute.  She has a feminine touch, and an elfish whimsy.  She had cleverly created recessed shelving along a wall, that disguised the door leading to the kitchen. I longed to have her intelligence, energy, humor and good heart working alongside me.

She walked me through the appliances and equipment she had.  She wanted to sell it, but cheaply.  She had bought quality stuff, no junk.

I told her I had no money.  If I bought the stuff, I’d need time to pay it off.  I thought six months was a safe length of time.  She agreed.  It took a day or two for us to finally arrive at what she could be comfortable with.  She practically gave the stuff to me!  Included in the stash was an expensive POS terminal, very sophisticated.  I told her she would have to come with it, because no one else on my staff would be able to figure out how to work it.

Han Dan is inside the large area.  I am shooting from the salon.
Windows to my right and back

Her salary was a problem.  Her mother was pushing her to demand high wages and benefits.  It put me in an awkward spot. 

We had agreed with the tea shop that we could take possession on the 20^th.  That day came and went, but we neither had the key nor an empty tea shop.  They had moved most of the big stuff, but clearly they were not done moving out.

On the 21^st Han Dan appeared for work.  I had nothing for her to do!  She helped me make some phone calls and we finally got ahold of a key to the tea shop.  She took off for downtown and an arranged truck, to load the stuff and bring it down.  It was late afternoon; Yi Fei had already arrived for the night shift.  Yi Fei and I went in there with brooms and a mop, and cleaned up what we could.  We cleared away one full room in which to put Han Dan’s stuff, the furniture and equipment, even though this one clear room happened to be the one in the front with lots of windows.  I was exhausted and finally left, before Han Dan returned.

Next day we finished cleaning and rearranged the furniture.  It filled the large main room admirably.  The windowed room was still empty.  So was my bank account, as I met with the landlord who wanted his 55,000 rmb.

I had already emptied out my savings account at the credit union in order to pay for rent at my home and at the shop.  I didn’t even have enough to pay the full 26,000 to the Tea Shop people.  I saw that the rent money from the Florida home had accumulated, and was almost enough to cover these new expenses.  I called the bank and asked them to transfer the money.  They said they could not!

Apparently, the money movement laws have tightened in the US recently, because of some fraud or other.  The bank informed me that the law required me to request an overseas transfer in person.  After that initial order, following orders could be done by phone.  Of course, to fly home and do that would pretty much wipe out what was in the account.

I started panicking. My brain went on overdrive, as I tried to unravel this knot.  At last I decided I could send a check to my brother in Florida, and he could cash it and forward the money to me.  In the meantime, people were lining up with their hands out.

I have a long-time customer and former Web student, named Lisa.  She and her husband own a denim factory.  In the winter she would come in frequently to have a cup of coffee.  She lives quite near.  I hadn’t seen her in some time, however.  Then she walked into the store just to say hi.  Before I could think too much about it, I asked her on the spot if she could lend me 7,000 rmb (a little over $1,000).  She said, ‘Of course.’  She was back a few hours later, having gone to an ATM, and handed me the money.

With that, I had the remainder of the 26,000 rmb for the tea shop owners. 

Lisa

Way back when Tina was working for us, there was a tall pretty lady who would come in for coffee.  They hit it off, and she, Louisa, would come often.  She worked nearby, and would come in at odd times and stay an hour.  I thought, her boss must not be very strict.  I asked her about it, and she said it was a small office and she had a lot of freedom.

She was one of the few people who would read my blog at www.grandmasnook.com, and write comments.  She is thin, wears glasses and has a gentle elegance about her.  She is soft spoken.  For many months after Tina left we did not see her.  But gradually she started coming again.

In late June I put a sign in the window.  I was announcing a VIP program for loyal customers who would prepay 500 rmb.  The VIP card would give them 5% off on all purchases as they spent that balance down.  In response to this, Louisa came in one day and said she’d like to be a partner or something, to help financially.  I was flummoxed by this, not knowing quite how to deal with it.  How to define ‘partner’?  We had a short conversation about it, and I said I’d think about it.  The next time she came in, I asked her to lend us 10,000 rmb short-term.  She said fine, and if I needed more there was another 10,000 where that came from.

Knowing that I’d have the US money before too long, I took some of that money and went to the second hand furniture market.  There, for less than thousand rmb, I furnished the room with the windows.  I bought a sofa, a mauve futon love seat, and two arm chairs.  Also two end tables and a coffee table.  I now had a salon, eclectically furnished.  A perfect spot to sit with laptop and surf the net,

The second-hand furniture now in the Salon

or meet with friends for a chat and a cuppa.

The rent was still due, two weeks away.  Even if I could negotiate the new landlord into accepting just six months rent, my bank account stood at zero.  I needed money fast. 

This summer we have an intern.  His father sent him to us, because the young man has enrolled in a PhD program in Minnesota but his English and social skills were, in his father’s opinion, needing work.  The student’s name is JieXue.  I nicknamed him Jae.  He has an oval face with a large forehead and very short hair.  His chin is small, and he tends to keep his mouth open.  His darting eyes are serious, his infrequent smiles never quite reach them.  It took some dogged interviewing before I learned what he would be studying in Minnesota.  His major is computer science, and algorithms are his specialty.  His father took us out to dinner once, at a Japanese restaurant, and I realized I was not alone in thinking Jae had a lot in common with Sheldon, of ‘Big Bang Theory’.  His father has been trying to get him to watch the show, but Jae thinks it is too frivolous.

I had mentioned to Jae that I’d like to meet with his father and discuss borrowing some money.  One day Jae came in and said he had asked his father for me, and he had said no.  After thinking about it for many days, I finally screwed up my courage to call Jae’s dad.  He was apologetic, but politely asked how much I needed.  At that point, I thought 10,000 rmb would cover my immediate needs. 

“Is that all?” he asked.

“yes,” I replied, “and I’ll have it back to you quickly.”

He texted me asking for my bank account number.  By the afternoon, the money was in my account.

At about the same time the letter with the check was arriving at my brother’s home, I went back to the Wells Fargo bank account web site.  I noticed a tab that said ‘transfers’.  I thought it couldn’t possibly be that easy, but as it turned out, it was.  With a few keystrokes I was able to add my credit union account to the Florida rent bank account.  In no time, I had transferred the money.  I learned that credit unions do not have the same restrictions as commercial banks, and so there was no interruption to my ability to transfer money from the CU to China.

I felt touched by the Spirit when I watched all of this so quickly unfold.  I have no definite plans for the new space.  When people ask, I tell them we’ll open it in September. 

Randy has proven to be more of a dreamer than a doer, although he is an admirable fixit man.  He loves to clean, and spent days erasing all odors and residue from the previous tenants.  He has nothing new to contribute on what form the new space should take.  He has put a freezer in there filled with his meats.  He has let people know that they can get their meats at Grandma’s Nook.  Jae wrote a computer program that allows me to input sales of Randy’s meats, taking off 10% for me to pay electricity.  He is content, and has no further interest in the space.

My ladies group meets twice a month for morning coffee.  They chose to try out my new space.  It was fun hosting them, and creating a menu with choices such as they’d find at other places.  Aside from my usual muffins, scones, brownies, I added grilled cheese sandwiches. I had just bought online a waffle maker that also had a plate for grilling sandwiches. That proved very popular.  The ladies seemed to enjoy the salon.

The rent was paid on July 1.  The Fourth of July was around the corner.  I decided to offer a special celebratory brunch on that weekend.  It proved so popular that I decided to have a series called ‘First Sunday Brunch’, held on the first Sunday of each month.

That event is worthy of its own chapter.  When I came in at 4 a.m. to bake, the power at the new shop had been turned off!  The posted start time for the brunch was 9 a.m. but the management office wouldn’t open until 9 a.m.  In the end, about 20 people came and all agreed this should become a regular event.

All in all, it seems to me I have been touched by a series of miracles.  Just a few months back I could never have anticipated all this.