50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 412 Moving
On May 6, Sun Zhiwei reached an agreement with Toby Bradley.

Toby used his Magnificent Jewellery shop and two mansions located on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side respectively to repay the 10 ounces of gold he borrowed from Sun Zhiwei last October.

It took another three days for Sun Zhiwei, with the assistance of Cathay Bank, to successfully take over the Rose Jewelry Store.

The location of the Magnificent Jewellery store is particularly good; it is located directly south of Central Park, where there are three plots of land facing Central Park.

If the Upper East Side and Upper West Side are considered wealthy areas, then this place can be called the 'Billionaire Club'.

This is Billionaire Road, one of the most prestigious areas in Manhattan, New York. The limited number of buildings here are home to the super-rich, and having an office that faces Central Park is a symbol of status.

The store of Magnificent Jewelry is located on the ground floor of one of the buildings, and the annual rent alone costs $1 million, which accounts for 30% of Magnificent Jewelry's annual profits.

Speaking of store location, this location is truly excellent. If Magnificent Jewelry is a top-tier jewelry store, then this location is perfect.

Unfortunately, Magnificent Jewelry is only a mid-range jewelry store. Because it doesn't own its own gemstone mines, its purchase prices are much higher than similar stores, resulting in very limited profits.

However, the high-end jewelry that the super-rich want to buy is not available at Magnificent Jewellery.

Its most popular products are actually gold jewelry. The gold jewelry in the store is exquisite in both design and manufacturing, attracting many small millionaires.

This store would be suitable for any location, whether it's on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Tribeca, or West Street.

The Upper East Side and Upper West Side are traditional affluent areas, with many townhouses and townhouses. The buildings have a very classic and elegant exterior, but each household has a large living space inside.

Tribeca doesn't have many tall buildings; most are only six or seven stories high, made of red brick. It's an area where celebrities and famous people gather.

The residents there mostly live on one floor per family, so although it looks low-key, the actual total property value is shockingly high.

The buildings on West Street are mostly low-rise buildings that look old on the outside, but have been renovated inside. Each of those detached houses may house a financial tycoon.

In summary, it chose the wrong address, or rather, it located the wrong location.

Sun Zhiwei doesn't own any gemstone mines, but he does own gold mines. With him providing cheap gold, the store's profit margin will be much higher in the future.

So the first thing he did after taking over the store was to move it; he planned to move the store to the Tribeca district.

Although the shops here are nice, it's not the right place for Magnificent Jewelry. Its customers don't live here, so how can business be good?

The reason for not choosing the Upper East Side and Upper West Side is that these are traditional wealthy areas where almost every household already owns a lot of jewelry, so the repurchase rate for new jewelry is not very high.

It's also obvious why West Street wasn't chosen; those in finance are all money-grubbing types, many of them are Jewish, and they perfectly exemplify the proverb that the richer you are, the more stingy you become.

Tribeca, a district frequented only by celebrities, is full of beautiful, showy girls who even compete with each other over every new bag design.

Moreover, the turnover rate here is the fastest. Every year, new talents emerge and outdated stars leave in disappointment, resulting in a constant stream of new customers.

He knew that Tribeca was the future of Magnificent Jewelry.

He has kept all the shop assistants, and the management team consists of only the store manager, Theodore Ellis, in addition to the finance department.

This store manager is mediocre, but he's quick to back down. Now he does whatever Sun Zhiwei tells him to do, and his main strength is being obedient.

After Sun Zhiwei took over the jewelry store, he also took over the merchandise in the store, and now there is not much stock left in the store.

Especially for their flagship gold jewelry, due to Toby's reckless actions and the rise in gold prices, the existing inventory can only sustain one month's sales. "Boss, the store's gold jewelry inventory is running low. Could you buy some more gold as soon as possible?"

Sun Zhiwei lacks everything, except gold.

"I understand. How much cash is left in the account?"

"There's still $500 million left."

"I will be delivering a batch of gold this afternoon. Just keep the shop running and expand the business after we move."

"Okay, boss, I understand."

After lunch, Sun Zhiwei drove around the city for a while. When he returned, there were five additional suitcases in the back seat of his car.

Each of these boxes contained 10 standard gold bars, totaling 2 ounces of gold, roughly enough for the store's monthly sales.

Store manager Ellis led his staff to carry the boxes into the store. After he finished counting the amount of gold, he quietly ran over to find Sun Zhiwei.

“Boss, you brought 2 ounces of gold, which at the current price would cost $530 million, but we don’t have enough money in our account.”

"Moreover, payday is coming soon, and we need to set aside some money for payroll."

"Not enough? Didn't you say you still had 500 million? How much do you need for salaries?"

"It will cost around $3 to pay salaries?"

"How could it not be enough? You don't think this batch of gold is calculated based on the international gold price, do you?"

Only then did he understand what the store manager meant; it turned out that the store manager was calculating the purchase price of gold based on the international gold price.

“Ellis, this batch of gold comes from my gold mine in San Francisco. I only need to pay 8% of the international gold price to supply the store.”

"Go and transfer the money. Transfer 424 million to the Swell Gold Mine's account."

Ellis was overjoyed to hear this good news; it must be amazing for the boss to own a gold mine.

Back when Toby was the boss, getting supplies was such a hassle. People would hold you back at every turn, and if they were unhappy, they would raise prices.

Now that the company has a new owner, they can enjoy special wholesale prices, and at such low prices. How can anyone else compete?

Their purchase price was 20% lower, and just by engaging in a price war, they could bankrupt even gold shops without gold mines. Add to that their superior craftsmanship and design, and they simply had no rivals.

"By the way, Ellis, although the purchase price is cheaper, don't lower the selling price. Just keep it at that level. All actions will be taken once we move to the Tribeca district."

"Understood, Boss." Although Ellis didn't understand, he wouldn't question Sun Zhiwei's words and would resolutely carry them out.

His personality would be a recipe for disaster if he were to start a business, but he'd be a good candidate to maintain what's already established.

He had originally planned to replace the manager with a more capable one, but now it seems that having a manager who is not good at development but has strong execution skills is also an option.

(End of this chapter)