Chapter 87: Miracles
Half a year passed from that summer vacation. Time turned past the autumn and winter of 1999 and entered the spring of 2000. In 1999, the world population reached six billion, and the United Nations designated October 12 as the Day of Six Billion.
Xinghai Square in Xiahai City entered its final inspection and acceptance stage. The newly built square occupied sixty thousand square meters, with two main office towers and a thirty-thousand-square-meter commercial podium. It was the second-largest city square in the west among the province's cities. The new urban development white paper issued by the Municipal Party Committee and municipal government set a target of attracting 150 million yuan in investment that year. Key provincial enterprises and provincial distributors of international brands had already inspected Xinghai Square and were eyeing it eagerly, holding repeated negotiations with the Xiahai municipal government. Shushan Chain's performance over those six months had not disappointed Su Can. After the holiday slump passed, retail sales entered a peak period. In September 1999, the month school began, total revenue reached eight hundred thousand yuan. Each of the five stores averaged more than a hundred and fifty thousand yuan in monthly sales, with accumulated gross profit reaching two hundred and sixty thousand yuan. In October, Shushan Chain expanded its premises, bringing another leap in revenue.
At the end-of-year accounting for 1999, after deducting expansion, renovation, and personnel expenses, Shushan Chain's total profit came to two million yuan. On that basis, the five Shushan branches had each expanded by an average of 130 percent, and the workforce had grown to nearly forty.
The new recruits were different from the earlier counter clerks. This time, higher standards and requirements were set for the chain's cashier, accounting, and business positions. In the recruitment advertisement Wang Yue