A landlord in Xinjiang tripled the rent once Pangdonglai boosted the area's popularity, only to end up with empty shops for years. Similar cases later emerged in Xuchang, highlighting the harm of short-sighted rent hikes.
The annual rent jumped from 8 million to 24 million—a threefold increase. This landlord has clearly set his sights on Pang Donglai
. Back when Pang Donglai first set up shop in Xinxiang, the area around that old street was mostly filled with older residential buildings. After dark, there were hardly any businesses open, and the entire street was often pitch-black.—not a single proper business could be found there. The landlord’s street-front storefront had stood empty for three whole years. He’d approached many small business owners, but they either complained the location was too remote with no foot traffic or feared they couldn’t bear the long-term costs of an empty storefront—none of them took the lease. It wasn’t until Pang Donglai finally signed the contract with an annual rent of eight million. Clutching the freshly signed lease, the landlord went around boasting to everyone for days on end, saying he’d finally found a reliable major tenant. Who could have imagined that things would take a sudden turn for the worse?
After Pang
Donglai moved in, it first spent nearly half a year adjusting its business model. Employee benefits were distributed quarterly, and everything from rice, flour, and cooking oil to holiday gifts was consistently provided. The once-deserted street, where no one used to want to go, became so crowded during holidays that temporary crowd control measures were needed. The small businesses in the surrounding area alsoreaped the benefits as well, with their business doubling or tripling compared to before. However, as soon as the lease expired, the landlord left no room for negotiation whatsoever and demanded 24 million outright. The justification was so flimsy that even the veteran street vendors who’d been setting up their stalls there for over a decade couldn’t help but shake their heads in disbelief.
No one expected Pang Donglai’s reaction.If it had been any other supermarket chain, they might have gritted their teeth and accepted the rent hike—after all, they’d already invested millions in renovations and equipment, and relocating would have been a significant expense. But Pang Donglai didn’t haggle over the price at all; they posted a closure notice right outside the store that very day and finished taking inventory of all their merchandise in less than a week, packing up and leavingcleanly and efficiently.
Now the landlord was left in a bind, without the foot traffic from Pang Donglai to rely on. The once-bustling commercial district quickly fell silent. The empty storefronts, devoid of foot traffic, just sat there. They’ve been vacant for nearly two years. The landlord has cut the rent three times in a row—from 20 million to 12 million, then down to 8 million—yet not a single brand has dared to take it over. The commercial district that was once so popular is now a place where even vegetable vendors are reluctant to go, feeling there’s no business to be had and no money to be made.
What’s even more frustrating is that this isn’t over yet. It’s only been a few years since the incident in Xinxiang, and now in Xuchang—the birthplace of Pang Donglai—another landlord has set his sights on the chain, waiting for the tenant to boost the area’s popularity before jacking up the rent.
These landlords, who wait for tenants to turn a dead-end location into a thriving business just so they can jack up the rent, should be seeing this as a mutually beneficial arrangement between landlord and tenant. Yet they insist on treating it as a one-time cash grab, with their eyes fixed only on the quick profit right in front of them—throwing even the most basic moral standards to the wind.
People who onlypeople who care only about immediate gains—in the end, very few of them actually come out ahead. In life and business, one must act with a conscience; you can’t just chase after petty gains and cut off your own long-term prospects. Let’s not allow this short-sighted, corrupt trend to continue preying on those who work hard and do things the right way.
