Flower stall brings light to young man's life

Zhou Qi, 28, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province

On workdays, I usually leave home at 2 pm to go to the market to buy flowers worth 200 yuan ($27.6) and transport them to a temporary selling place to prepare. On the weekend, I set out in the morning and buy flowers worth 1,000 yuan to sell.

I worked as a wedding photographer for three years in my hometown. I quit as I got tired of working variable hours.

Then I opened an online shop with a friend in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, selling packaging materials for flowers. I quitted after one year due to differences of opinion with my friend.

I came to Nanjing to seek a job in 2020 but failed several interviews. I had to work as a deliveryman to support myself. While I was delivering an order, the idea of selling flowers came to me when I saw people peddling all kinds of things on the streets.

There were very few males selling flowers. In the beginning, when I walked on the road holding bags of flowers, many people would look at me, which made me feel uncomfortable.

In the first month of peddling flowers, business was poor. I made only a few dozen yuan a day, sometimes nothing. After I thought about it, I realized it was because I just had two shabby bags of flowers and a small piece of paper with the prices written on it.

To make my setup more attractive, I bought a camper van to put the flowers in, decorated it with a piece of cloth and colored lights, and brought beautiful wrapping paper, which made me sell well among college students.

Because many sellers followed me in buying vans, I bought a tricycle to contain the flowers and painted it pink, which made a lot of heads turn.

The trunk fairs that have gotten popular this year are the ones that provide free sites and charge little for cleaning. I drive my car there and do my business together with other younger vendors. I also cooperate with shopping malls, which allow me to set up a temporary stall inside as the flowers cannot stand hot temperatures.

Flowers look pretty, but actually, pruning them is a lot of work, including removing thorns, excess leaves and broken petals. I do it all by myself. I have to deal with more than 1,500 flowers on a weekend day.

I often go home after midnight, but I am satisfied; after all, it is my own business. In the past three months, I have had a monthly turnover of more than 20,000 yuan.

I regard this experience as a turning point in my life. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I've done nothing else well but this in my life, so I'm definitely going to stick with it and I like the flower industry.

My dream is to open a flower shop near a university campus with a large population, selling small bouquets at the price of 10 to 30 yuan that young can people buy on the go.

The minimum cost of the shop is 150,000 yuan, including 100,000 yuan for rent and 50,000 yuan for decoration and facilities. I expect I can realize this dream next year as I have a stable income now.

Even after having my own shop, I would still participate in boot fairs, as I love the feeling of meeting new friends there.

Zhou Qi spoke with Zhang Yi.