Chapter 2462 - Ladies' Wear Department

Chen Lin originally planned to spend most of his time at the silk and cloth counter to check the local textile market in Lingao. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered this department store, he was attracted by the grotesque and colorful scene before his eyes, and involuntarily followed the flow of people to look at things casually, checking the counters and shelves one by one.

He squeezed his way to a circular wooden counter. This counter was rare; not only did it not sell any goods, but it was also higher, almost like a pawnshop counter—and just like a pawnshop, it was equipped with wooden bars. Could this be a pawnshop? But there was no sound of singing out tickets from the counter, only the occasional clinking sound.

While he was puzzled, suddenly there was a swish sound above his head. Looking up, he saw an object like a document holder hanging on an iron wire, whistling past on the wire with a whoosh. Looking along the iron wire, he saw that centered on this circular counter, dozens of iron wires were suspended in the air like a spider web radiating in all directions, connecting various counters around to this place.

Looking carefully again, there were two more such circular high platforms in the store. These three high platforms were arranged equidistantly along the central axis of the shop.

Chen Lin figured it out after a little thought: this was where the accounting desk was. Shop management most tabooed shop assistants handling silver and money directly, and Australians were no exception. Watching carefully how the assistants in the counters sold goods, they all wrote out bill slips, then put the received money and bill slips into the clip, hung it on the iron wire, and pushed it hard to send it out. In a moment, the accounting desk returned it; the assistant took down the clip, took out the bill slip and change, and handed them to the customer along with the goods.

His family had been engaged in industry and commerce for generations. Although he was young, he had a lot of experience. He immediately understood the benefits of this "iron wire spider web." The most effective way for big merchants to prevent assistants from "stealing goods" and "stealing money" was centralized collection and delivery against receipts. He heard his father say that several large north-south goods firms in Suzhou did exactly this. But for a shop as big as Friendship Department Store, many hands would be needed to run bills back and forth. This "iron net" saved time and effort; although it wasn't profoundly deep, the idea was very ingenious.

Australians indeed have capable people. Chen Lin thought. In fact, thinking carefully, although Australians have many "strange techniques and ingenious skills," they bring even more new methods and new ideas. Some are not created by them first, but they can always do it more thoughtfully and brilliantly than predecessors.

Australian learning is indeed unfathomable.

He walked around the store and didn't find the place selling fabrics. Asking the assistant, he learned: need to go to the second floor.

Li Mei spent a lot of thought on the specific design. This Friendship Department Store not only replicated the county-level department store of the old timeline in appearance but also basically followed the model of traditional Chinese shopping malls in layout. It was just that the quantity of goods and consumption power in this timeline were very limited, so in terms of variety and scale, it could only be considered a miniature version.

The first floor was for high-frequency consumption goods, the so-called "Fast Moving Consumer Goods"; the second floor was arranged for clothing, shoes, hats, and various textiles. The layout was also more spacious than the first floor, bright and roomy enough for customers to try on and compare. The third floor sold expensive goods, such as famous cigarettes and wines, jewelry, clocks and watches, leather goods, etc. There were fewer consumers and less traffic, allowing the target customer group to choose and compare leisurely.

This layout started from modern department stores in the Republic of China era of the old timeline and continued into the new century. Malls in countless Chinese cities replicated such a layout. Only with the increase in scale and the development of the times, furniture, household appliances, and other goods were added.

Chen Lin climbed the spacious stairs to the second floor. The clearance height of the second floor was not as high as the first floor, but there were many windows, shelves and counters were not so dense, and there were much fewer customers. As soon as he went up, he felt his eyes brighten. The environment here was much better than below.

On the second floor of Friendship Department Store, ready-made clothes were the largest sales category, occupying almost half of the area. Originally, ready-made clothing manufacturing did not exist in this timeline. Regardless of being rich or poor, people wore clothes either made by female family members at home or by hired tailors; there was no system of mass manufacturing. Even items requiring mass production, such as soldiers' combat jackets and officials' uniforms, followed the model of wholesale contracting and scattered production. Only after the Senate landed did they use the equipment brought to establish the first garment factory to make uniforms and work clothes for soldiers and laborers in bulk. Later, they began to make clothes for Elders, and gradually the trend of purchasing and wearing ready-made clothes spread among naturalized citizens, then progressively expanded to ordinary commoners. So the ready-made clothing counters here immediately aroused Chen Lin's strong interest.

He had seen ready-made clothing stores in the Great World in Guangzhou. The impression was not deep. Because the sales targets of ready-made clothing stores in Great World were mainly naturalized cadres and dependents of the Northbound Detachment, as well as newly recruited naturalized staff locally. The category of goods highlighted "practicality." Except for "Australian underwear" which was quite special, all Chen Lin saw in the ready-made clothing store were boring "uniforms," nothing more than different materials and fabrics, while styles were almost exactly the same.

Of course, speaking of Great Ming's attire, there was nothing fresh in style either. But at least the patterns, decorations, and colors were richer and more colorful. Compared to the Australians' black, blue, gray, and white domination, there was still a big difference.

However, the Ladies' Wear Department on the second floor of Friendship Department Store overturned Chen Lin's impression of Australian clothing. The variety of clothing styles displayed here, the complexity of colors, and the novelty of patterns completely surpassed Chen Lin's past cognition of "clothes"—especially women's wear, "So clothes can be made like this!"

Australians emphasized "display" very much in selling clothing. Various clothes were fixed on display boards, hung on clothes racks, or put on wooden mannequins—the latter made him feel somewhat uncomfortable every time he saw them. Although these mannequins were completely "impressionistic," without hair or facial features, the body contours were very realistic.

In Chen Lin's cognition, wooden human figures were either grave goods or statues of gods in temples. Displaying them in the store grandly wearing clothes made him feel somewhat mentally uncomfortable.

This was probably also considered the Australians' "strange overseas custom."

Chen Lin browsed the counters of the Ladies' Wear Department with great interest. In any timeline, women were always the main consumers of textiles. As a fabric manufacturer, the Chen family had always been very concerned about "new fashionable patterns."

The assistants in the Ladies' Wear Department were almost all female, wearing gray suits of buttoned open-collar tops and skirts, with long name tags on their chests, all smiling and greeting attentively. Someone came to greet him as soon as he passed by.

Chen Lin was not used to being greeted by female assistants and said: "Just looking casually, not buying anything."

The entire second floor had about half of its area selling women's wear. Not only were there many styles, but the color schemes and styles were also much bolder than the ready-made clothing stores in Great World. The legendary short skirts revealing knees, Chen Lin had heard of many times but never witnessed with his own eyes. Even the Australian female students seen on the ship, whose attire could be called shocking to the world, had skirt hems still at the knees. But among the various skirts displayed on wooden mannequins here, several completely revealed the knees.

"Unexpectedly, Australians really have such clothes! So short, if the movement range is large, most likely thighs will be revealed..."

Just thinking of this made Chen Lin's face hot. Thinking further, if going up and down stairs, or running and jumping in urgency, wouldn't it be, wouldn't it be... Chen Lin dared not think further. Somehow, he remembered the Australian female students seen on the ship. A nameless agitation rose in his heart.

He quickly stopped his romantic thoughts and silently reminded himself to focus on his career. What did the style of women's wear matter? The key was to look at the materials used! Right, materials used!

Chen Lin focused his attention on the materials. He soon discovered that the choice of fabrics for women's wear was very complex. Not only were all kinds of fabrics he knew used, but multiple fabrics were often used on the same set of clothes. Various colors, accessories, lace, patterns... some patterns were very fresh, which he had never seen before—presumably also brought by Australians. And a long strip of fabric with hollow patterns, seemingly made of silk gauze and specially sewn on the edges of clothes, aroused his interest even more. Asking the female assistant, he learned this was called "lace" (huabian).

This is really good stuff, Chen Lin thought. Using it to decorate the edges of clothes looks much better than simply piping with fabric strips. Piping and bordering can only play with color and width. The style and texture of this lace can produce many patterns. He studied it carefully and roughly knew this was also woven, but he couldn't see the specific craftsmanship at all.

This lace also has a big market. Wonder if we can introduce it together in this cotton mill. Chen Lin thought, I should ask Chen Xiaobing these few days.

He immediately called the saleswoman and wanted to buy a lace shirt.

"I wonder what size your treasured family member wears?"

This stumped him: firstly, he didn't have a "treasured family member"; secondly, although traditional clothing also required measuring the body to cut clothes, the clothes made were generally loose and not strict on size. Seeing the female assistant take out five sizes for him to choose, he instantly felt dizzy.

"This, casual is fine..."

"Guest, the size difference of these clothes is very large; one size difference means it can't be worn." The female assistant was very considerate, "How about this, what is the height of your treasured family member? And how much is the weight?"

Chen Lin thought: How would I know! He had a bright idea and said: "Her height and figure are about the same as the young lady's."

"Then it's free size (average size)." The female assistant nodded, "Please wait a moment, I'll write a ticket for you."

After buying clothes, he went to the fabric counter to look casually again. The fabrics here were indeed of many varieties, but compared to Manager An's Ruihexiang, there was nothing particularly outstanding; the two were just par. Chen Lin was slightly disappointed.

Seeing the sky outside getting late, and looking at the big clock on the wall, it was already five twenty. Chen Lin dared not stroll anymore and hurriedly turned back downstairs.

There was still some distance from here to Longhao Bay Hotel. Fortunately, he had already seen that there were rickshaws waiting for customers at the edge of the square. Giving more tips and asking the driver to run faster, he could make it.

(End of Chapter)