One of the most memorable things about the eighties was the classic music spilling from roadside stereos. That’s why one of the shops had to be a dedicated cassette tape store. It couldn’t be small, either—it would be best to set it up like a supermarket.
The tapes would all be displayed on raw-wood shelves, allowing customers to browse and select at their leisure.
’This shop will need to be mindful of theft...’
I’ll open a movie theater, modeled after the multiplexes of the future. Each auditorium will be about the size of two classrooms, furnished with several rows of chairs upholstered in leather and stuffed with soft, comfortable cotton.
Six or seven auditoriums like that would take up half the street.
In addition to ticket sellers and ticket takers, there would also be a concession stand selling snacks and drinks.
It’s located right by the hospital, so it gets all that foot traffic, plus it’s near the residential areas for several large work units. Plenty of buses pass through here too. As long as we advertise and keep the film selection fresh, we won’t have to worry about selling tickets.
I’ll have Xu Chengfang handle this. She can negotiate with a few of the major film production companies.
’Ticket sales could also use a group-buying model. We could run special promotions for holidays, offer advance ticket sales—so many kinds of promotions!’
’I bet people who’ve never seen such modern sales tactics will rush in, thinking they’re getting a huge bargain.’
On the other side of the North Gate, a large library!
All the rooms would be connected by knocking down the walls. We’d even expand it a bit onto the hospital grounds and build it three stories high. It would have an open atrium in the center and a post-modern design. The walls would be lined with shelves holding countless books organized by section. The rest of the space would be filled with all sorts of tables and chairs, plus plenty of flowers and plants for decoration.
There would be drink counters in the center and on the sides of the library, serving beverages like milk, juice, coffee, and milk tea.
The library would offer memberships. Members could enter for free to read, do research, or study, and they could also check out books to take home.
The library might seem like it’s mostly a public service, but it would attract the literary and intellectual crowd, bringing plenty of targeted potential customers to the surrounding shops.
Next door, there’ll be a bookstore and a stationery shop. I’m sure that with so few entertainment options available these days, people will definitely treat books and periodicals as a major form of recreation.
As for the South Gate, it would sell the things that hospital visitors buy most often, essentially acting as an expanded version of the commissary.

She had also been thinking about setting up a hotel. This was the perfect chance to give it a proper storefront and connect it to the singles’ dormitory in the back—the one converted from the old office building, which was currently half-empty.
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