We do business normally, why not let us hang our signs?
"We are doing business normally, why not let us hang our signs?" On May 8th this year, after repeatedly trying to submit the store's sign design plan but failing to pass the approval, a store on Guangyuan Road in Xuhui District called the 12345 citizen service hotline for help, stating that the store has been open for more than a month and still has no sign, which has brought huge difficulties to their normal operation.
Street facing shops are an important component of urban commercial economy and a reflection of fireworks. Having a beautiful and eye-catching storefront sign is of great importance to business owners. Therefore, storefront signs often serve as a window into a city's business environment. However, the complaint information shows that with the urban renewal and beautification of districts in Shencheng, some businesses are unable to hang their store signs normally, and their operations are greatly affected. What's going on?
I have applied nearly 10 times, but where exactly did I get stuck?
"Now we can only sell around 100 steamed buns a day, with a turnover of 400 yuan. And the rent alone costs nearly 700 yuan in a day. What should we do?" On May 11th, Mr. Zhao, the owner of a steamed bun shop at 172 Guangyuan Road, kept complaining when he saw reporters visiting. And he believes that the poor business of his own store is directly related to the lack of store recruitment. "Baozi business needs to be done early. When it opens early in the morning, the doors are all black and there are no signs, let alone what is being sold here. How can we do business?"
The storefront of No. 172 Guangyuan Road is not large, with four glass doors almost occupying the entire storefront. Above it is a beige rectangular door that protrudes 30 to 40 centimeters. There is a blank space on the door, and upon closer inspection, one can distinguish the marks left by the demolition of the previous dumpling restaurant sign. If it weren't for the two posters of "Guangyuan Fresh Buns" posted on the glass door, just looking at the front door, I really wouldn't know what is being sold here.
The storefront at 172 Guangyuan Road. Above is a beige rectangular door with a protrusion of thirty to forty centimeters, with a blank space and no shop sign. The pictures in this article are WeChat official account pictures of "Shanghai Folk Voice Direct Train"
Why isn't there a shop sign? Mr. Zhao told reporters that he rented this storefront before this year's Spring Festival. In early March, the store began to renovate, and he immediately took care of the store manager to handle the procedures for hanging store signs simultaneously. As Guangyuan Road is located in a historic area, the setting of outdoor signboards is subject to licensing management. Mr. Zhao must submit the shop sign design scheme to the relevant departments of the street through the "governance cloud" module of Tianping Street's WeChat official account in the "quota project filing", and the construction can be set only after approval.
Store manager Xue Dongdong opened his phone: the backend showed that since March 7th this year, he has submitted approval applications 11 times. Apart from duplicate submissions, there have been nearly 10 times, and only 7 versions of the store recruitment renderings have been created. He recalled that every time he submitted an application, he was always called back for various reasons, "One said the font was 35 centimeters too high and needed to be reduced, another said the font color was too bright, another said it was not allowed to use reflective materials, and another said that the font's external light was not allowed and could only be adjusted repeatedly before resubmitting." The record shows that the last version was submitted by Xue Dongdong on April 13th. "This time, the font was finally approved, and we thought there should be no problem. Unexpectedly, on April 29th, we called again, saying that according to the standard documents, our door cannot protrude and we need to remove the protruding part."
Store manager Xue Dongdong's mobile backend shows that since March 7th this year, he has submitted approval applications 11 times. Apart from duplicate submissions, there have been nearly 10 times, and only 7 versions of the store's advertising renderings have been created.
The picture shows the store recruitment version submitted by Xue Dongdong on April 13th.
"But that's just how I rented it," Mr. Zhao explained. Whether the storefront can be dismantled or not, let's not say for now. He had already hidden the steam exhaust outlet in the protruding storefront during the renovation. Once the protruding part of the storefront is dismantled, it means that some of the decoration needs to be readjusted. "I didn't mention it during the renovation, but now it has been in business for over a month. Is it unlucky for me to smash my own signboard again?" Mr. Zhao didn't understand and couldn't accept the street's adjustment request.
The picture shows the protruding storefront of No. 172 Guangyuan Road.
After Mr. Zhao filed a complaint, on the afternoon of May 11th, two staff members from Tianping Street brought several decoration masters to Mr. Zhao's store, stating that they needed to confirm on site whether the protruding door could be removed. After removing the maintenance hole reserved on the door, the reporter saw that what was exposed inside was the original hollow cement eaves of the house, not the common hollow steel structure. After the renovation workers knocked on it, they confirmed that the eaves were connected to the roof beams, and it was difficult to remove them. Only then did the two workers say they knew.
After removing the maintenance hole reserved on the door, the reporter saw that what was exposed inside was the original hollow cement eaves of the house, not the common hollow steel structure.
Mr. Zhao has some complaints about his delay in setting up shop signs. Two street workers explained that due to being located in a protected area, the store signs have higher requirements for appearance. In addition to reviewing the plan at the street level, it also needs to be submitted to the "community planner" for review, which has led to repeated adjustments, such as demolishing the storefront being a requirement of the "community planner". In addition, the community planner is hired externally, and the street has gathered a batch of materials to submit for review, which has also led to some delays in the timeline. However, the street staff stated that the situation where the front door cannot be removed will be promptly reported to the community planner, but Mr. Zhao still needs to submit the review materials again.
Urban governance cannot add difficulties to business operations
Since May 1st last year, our city has implemented the "Technical Specifications for Setting up Outdoor Signboards in Shanghai", which have clear regulations on the size and setting up methods of store signs. Therefore, in order to comply with the above "norms", not only in the style protection areas with high requirements for the appearance of urban blocks, but also with the large-scale urban renewal of Shencheng, many blocks have adopted strict filing and approval procedures for the unified design and installation of store signs by the local government for beautification, safety and other considerations, or for the establishment of new store signs after the adjustment of store operators. But many contradictions have arisen in the actual operation process.
Since May 1st last year, our city has implemented the "Technical Specifications for Setting up Outdoor Signboards in Shanghai", which have clear regulations on the size and setting up methods of store signs.
Complaint information shows that when implementing beautification projects in the neighborhood and setting up unified store signs, the old ones were dismantled early on, but the new ones could not be installed properly, which has been criticized by the operators. A shop owner on Boxing Road in Pudong New Area complained that when the street demolished the old shop sign, it promised to install the new one in 1 to 2 weeks, but unexpectedly, it took 2 months to wait; The owner of a shop on Shuangyang Branch Road in Yangpu District claimed that the shops along the street had already initiated shop sign renovation before the Chinese New Year and dismantled the old shop sign. The construction manager originally said that the new shop sign could be installed after the Spring Festival, but unexpectedly, by the end of April, the new shop sign had not been reinstalled; A shop owner on Guangling Fourth Road in Hongkou District said that the old storefront was demolished on December 1st last year, and the new storefront was not installed until the end of April. During this period, the shop owner inquired from multiple sources, but no one informed him of the accurate time node for installing the shop sign... Some operators also claimed that the neighborhood did not communicate with them properly when implementing the unified replacement of the shop sign: some operators had just spent money to decorate the shop sign, but the construction personnel from the back suddenly came to the door to carry out the demolition. The shop owners questioned why they didn't inform them early to avoid wasting funds by repeatedly investing since there is a unified arrangement for installing shop signs in the neighborhood.
In addition, similar to Mr. Zhao's experience, the management department blindly emphasized the requirements of the "Regulations" when changing store signs, which also led to some store operators being unable to set store signs.
No. 78 Jinxi Road, Yangpu District is a store owned by a real estate agent named "I Love My Home". The operator claims that the entire row of stores on Jinxi Road has a large entrance protruding one meter outward. After the operator changes, they usually change the pattern and words on the original structure of the storefront to their own store name. "I Love My Home" rented this street storefront in August last year, but the submitted store sign plan could not be approved. The reason was that according to the above "regulations", "attached signs set up below 2.5 meters above the ground should not protrude more than 0.2 meters from the wall." This requires "I Love My Home" to remove the original large storefront as a whole and reinstall the store sign that adheres to the wall. Mr. Yu, the store manager, said that apart from the poor effect of opening and shrinking the store inside, due to the interconnected storefronts of each store, only one of them dismantled the storefronts, which may pose a hidden danger to the safety of adjacent store storefronts.
78 Jinxi Road is a store of real estate agency "I Love My Home". Due to the original large storefront of the store not meeting the standards, it was required to remove the storefront when replacing the store sign.
Due to differences in store signage settings, for the past six months, "I Love My Home" has only been able to use a piece of spray painted cloth as the store signage. "At night, there are no lights at all, and those who don't know think we have already closed down." Mr. Yu said that the inability to set up shop signs normally has a significant impact on business. He suggested, "Several nearby streets are setting up shop signs uniformly. Can we first use the original storefront to set up temporary shop signs, and then demolish them according to the" Regulations "when the streets are uniformly set up?"
The storefronts of this entire row of stores on Jinxi Road are closely connected. Demolishing one of them is not only difficult to operate, but may also pose a safety hazard to the storefronts of adjacent stores.
Mr. Zhao believes that behind the series of controversies caused by the recruitment of storefronts, it is revealed that the working methods and style of relevant management departments need to be improved. For example, when reviewing the plan, can the various requirements set by the store's advertising be explained in one go, so as not to allow the operator to repeatedly modify and tinker? For example, the actual situation of houses along the street storefront varies greatly. How can the "Regulations" be combined with the actual situation? Can relevant managers inspect the site and make decisions based on the actual situation?
Operators call for the ability of store recruitment management to reflect the business environment. Street facing shops can effectively increase employment, prosper the economy, and facilitate the public. Currently, relevant departments should especially find ways to help merchants alleviate difficulties.
