Early the next day, wearing a cross colored hanfu of goose yellow skirt and a wide-sleeved white top, Bai Yu Yan stood in front of her shop across the busy street of Zongyuan. With both her hands supporting her dainty waist, she tilted her raised head to the left and then to the right as her eyes studied the new addition to her shop. Raising her hands to her forehead to cover the sunlight, Xiao Fan also copied her Miss. On the side, Manager Gao stood with a proud look on his face. Even though he tried to appear casual by suppressing the smile leaking from his lips, he was failing miserably at it.
A huge board stood on the head of their shop displaying big glittery words - Silver Closet. The reflected light of the early morning sun directly fell on it, catching every passerby's attention.
"Manager Gao, don't you think this board screams louder than you?" Unable to look at its sparkle anymore, Bai Yu Yan lowered her head and asked him. She dearly missed her sunglasses at this moment.
Manager Gao finally let his smile loose and replied, "As long as Boss likes it."
Standing beside Bai Yu Yan, Xiao Fan covered her smile with her hand. Bai Yu Yan's eyes twitched at the understanding of this man. She wanted to pour cold water on his mood but looking at the effect the board was creating, she held herself back. There wasn't a single person whose eyes were not attracted by it when they passed by the shop. The name on the board was visible even from 50 meters away.
"Let it be for now but I want you to order a smaller board next week. Also make it as simple as possible." For now, this big display might serve in letting people know about their shop but she didn't want them to confuse it with a retail shop that can serve hundreds of customers.
Hearing her, Manager Gao's face fell from expectation of compliment to reluctance "Boss, is it not good?"
"Miss, isn't a big board better than a small one? And why make it simple, ah?" Xiao Fan also chimed along.
Bai Yu Yan thought about how to explain it to them when the idea of the boutique itself was a unique one at this time. Thinking about it, she answered after a moment, "I didn't say it's bad. It's just that the huge board doesn't serve our purpose. As a boutique where we have to personally make every dress by hand, we can only take a handful of customers. Generally, the name of this type of shop spreads by word of mouth rather than advertisements. And rather than stopping by the shop when they pass through his street, our customers directly come here with a purpose. So I want it to be low-key." Because she didn't know how people would respond to it at this time, she was letting the board be for this week so that they could grab some initial customers.
Xiao Fan looked at her Miss in awe. These days she wondered if she truly had a proper understanding of her Miss.
Manager Gao finally cheered up after understanding the reason behind it.
The shop didn't look much extravagant from the outside. The door was connected to a narrow alleyway which led to a big lit hall. What pleasantly surprised Bai Yu Yan was a row of cotton mannequins standing by the walls inside big glass cases. She didn't think they would be prepared so soon when she asked Manager Gao to commission an artist to make it. These mannequins would probably be the first ones in this world. Since there was no artificial light, above the glass cases, patches of semi-transparent roof poured sunlight into it. The dresses on display could be clearly seen down to the little details. There was a small wooden stair at the corner which led to the second floor. Facing the street was Bai Yu Yan's bright office on the second floor, where she could work in her design. Apart from it, there were two changing rooms, a storeroom where they can store the raw materials and the previously built room for tailoring. Overall, although the shop wasn't too big, there was everything they needed in a boutique.
"Boss, there is something that I still don't understand," said Manager Gao as he followed Bai Yu Yan.
"What is it?"
"Why did you name it Silver Closet instead of Golden Closet?" He finally asked the question he couldn't think of the answer to. Isn't gold nobler than silver?
Bai Yu Yan was in a good mood. Standing before the huge windows in her office from where she could see the busy street down below, she turned towards Manager Gao before answering "We don't want to scare away our potential customers, do we? When I said that we can serve only a small number of customers, I didn't mean that our target is only nobles and not the commoners. When it comes to price, there is a difference between how they react. So put yourself in their shoes and tell me, will the commoners who can hardly afford gold visit the shop that screams money?" She patiently explained the psychological effect of a name. As someone who had been in this business for quite some time, she had learned a thing or two. Usually, people hesitate to even enter the shop where they don't think they can afford its products. This was also the reason why she told him to tone down on the renovation and exterior design.
Manager Gao's eyes lit up with enlightenment and he slowly nodded his head. He didn't think that even the name of a shop could have so much impact on the customers.
"Where is Zhang Song?" Bai Yu Yan didn't see the quiet woman around and asked.
"She is arranging the fabrics in the storeroom." replied Manager Gao. The woman worked so quietly that sometimes he didn't know if there was another person in the shop. So as a talkative man, whenever he tried to chat with her, he felt like he was talking to himself.
Remembering something, he smiled and rubbed his hands before asking Bai Yu Yan, "Boss, today is the opening of this shop. Shouldn't we celebrate it a little?"
"What celebration? Do you think the renovation of this shop was done for free? Our Miss does not have any more money to waste for such things." Xiao Fan pointed towards Manager Gao and scolded him.
Zhang Song also came up at this moment. Bai Yu Yan looked at the expectant gaze of Manager Gao and the puffed cheeks of Xiao Fan and smiled, "Think what you want to eat. Today's lunch will be on me."
Manager Gao laughed hearing it. Zang Song also had a small smile on her lips. Although Xiao Fan had a look of 'we should not spend excessively', Bai Yu Yan knew the girl was happy.