However, just as Ding Yun had made all her preparations, intending to heavily sell products from other worlds that were incompatible with this one to attract the attention of higher authorities.
Her "Happy Blind Box Machine" suddenly unlocked new features after she purchased another batch of basic blind boxes for replenishment.
[Congratulations to the customer for spending over 100,000 yuan.]
[Customer level has been upgraded. Blind Box World Classification feature unlocked, Blind Box Era Classification feature unlocked, Blind Box Recycling feature unlocked. Welcome, customer, to continue using.]
Seeing these two new messages pop up in her mind, Ding Yun’s entire body trembled, and her teeth chattered incessantly. It wasn’t from fear, but from anger.
Why was this crucial information only coming now!
Was she being played?
Why wasn't the user manual written about customer levels?
If she had known this earlier, why would she have gone through all that trouble? Why would she have worried, fretted, and had her brain cells die off in swathes?
After a considerable pause, Ding Yun finally calmed herself down and began to meticulously study the newly appeared functions. She then realized that plans truly couldn't keep up with the pace of change. With the new features, she no longer needed to devise any schemes to create a stir and cooperate with the government.
This was because the new features perfectly resolved her current predicament.
Her main difficulty lay in the fact that the items from the blind boxes were not fixed, and a significant portion of them could not be sold at all. Furthermore, those otherworldly products that couldn't be sold would accumulate as inventory, making them difficult to convert into cash and taking up space.
The so-called Blind Box World Classification feature unlock meant that she could now voluntarily choose which world, or rather, which type of world, to purchase blind boxes from.
If she chose the current world, then all the items from the blind boxes she opened from then on would be products from this world, things that everyone was familiar with, and absolutely no strange items.
The Blind Box Era Classification feature was also very simple.
It meant she could choose the era.
If she chose the current era, then the items from the blind boxes would all be things that existed or were possessed in the current era. If she chose fifty years later, a hundred years later, and so on, then naturally, they would be items popular or possessed in those future eras.
The recycling function was even easier to understand.
It meant the blind box machine could directly recycle unused items, as long as they were not damaged. The price at which she bought them was the same price at which they would be recycled. However, the money obtained from recycling could not be cashed out.
It could only be kept within the Happy Blind Box Machine to purchase more blind boxes.
Since the problems were now resolved, Ding Yun naturally had no need to take risks and cause a commotion.
Therefore, she quickly canceled her original plan and rushed to her storefront overnight. She reclaimed and destroyed all the blind boxes she had prepared the previous day, which were filled with products from various other worlds. She also collected all the items that had been transported to the warehouse a few hours earlier and had not yet been explained to the employees. After ensuring that there were no strange items at the storefront, she closed up and hurried home.
What followed was, as expected.
She began to use the blind box machine to recycle those items in large quantities.
Of course, she recycled items that Ding Yun disliked, didn't know the use for, or even items that might not be presentable in the future. Technological products like computers, mobile phones, and instant cameras, as well as items from higher-level blind boxes, were not recycled.
These items were either useful but not in line with the current era, or possessed special functions. Coupled with their small size, they could easily be accommodated after clearing out most of the items in her storage ring.
Therefore, there was no need to recycle them.
After dealing with all the unwanted items, Ding Yun finally felt completely at ease and selected the restrictions of "current world" and "current era." She then proceeded to purchase basic blind boxes again.
With the restrictions on world and era, the items from the blind boxes became much more normal.
Food blind boxes mostly yielded oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, rice, flour, grains, chicken, duck, fish, and meat.
At most, there would occasionally be seafood or mushrooms.
Clothing blind boxes also mostly contained items consistent with the current era. At most, she would occasionally get trendy items like sunglasses, jeans, or bell-bottoms. But regardless, they were all items that could be sold normally without any issues, no longer bizarre and peculiar, and un-sellable!
With this change, Ding Yun no longer needed to continue running the blind box shop. She could even open a department store without any problems.
Compared to directly selling goods, operating a blind box business was not only troublesome, but the profit was also less than that of direct sales.
The previous approach was a necessity, fearing that some items couldn't be sold if not placed in blind boxes, and also worried about affecting the market with drastic price reductions. Hence, she had created a blind box business.
Therefore, Ding Yun immediately decided that after clearing out the remaining blind boxes in the shop, she would change the shop's name to a department store.
She would no longer sell blind boxes.
Instead, she would sell fresh food, general merchandise, and the like.
After all, the permit she had initially obtained was for a department store. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to sell the blind boxes containing all sorts of items. Changing back to a department store was even more logical and hassle-free.
Ding Yun thought this way, and she acted accordingly.
The next morning, she quickly made a banner and took it to the blind box shop to start a promotion. The general message was that the shop was changing its business, and once the current stock was sold, it would be a clearance sale with discounts of 20-30% off.
Of course, this was the external message. Internally, Ding Yun informed all her employees that while the business was changing, the boss remained the same, and they would not be laid off. She told them to continue working as usual.
Then, many people assumed that the shop was losing money on the blind box business and was changing its operation because it couldn't sustain the losses. If it was already losing money, and now it was on sale, wouldn't buying be a gain? Thus, the blind boxes, which were already few in number, were sold out in less than two days.
As all the blind boxes were sold out, Ding Yun logically closed the shop, removed the signboard, and began internal renovations.
Of course, the internal renovation here did not mean dismantling and redoing all the decorations. It mainly involved altering the internal layout and adding some necessary fixtures.
Overall, it did not take much time.
In just three days, with the cooperation of her employees, Ding Yun successfully transformed the blind box shop into a department store.
Even all the goods were stocked.
It was just waiting to reopen.
This time, Ding Yun did not specifically choose an auspicious day. The very next day, as soon as everything was ready, she set off a string of firecrackers and reopened for business. She also launched a three-day promotional event for the supermarket.
Everything was 20% off, with a lucky draw.
The grand prize was a black and white television.
And then, it was undoubtedly another lively celebration. At the same time, Ding Yun's department store, just like the previous blind box shop, once again became a huge success and immensely popular.