I Closed the Shop I Ran for 10 Years — 6 Months Later, I Went Back #RealLifeInChina #smallbusiness

I’m Shan. I’m a 40-year-old woman in China. For ten years, I ran a small shop selling women’s clothing and cosmetics. Six months ago, I closed it. In this video, I go back to that street for the first time since closing. I wasn’t sure what I would find. The street is quieter now. Many storefronts have “For Rent” signs. Older people still set up small stalls selling vegetables they grow themselves. Some shops are still there. Many are not. I run into a woman I know from the neighborhood. She tells me her friend’s furniture shop is struggling. Fewer people are buying new furniture because fewer people are buying houses, and many now buy secondhand furniture online instead. Later, I meet the man who ran the men’s clothing shop next door to mine for years.