She graduated from National Hualien Girl’s Senior High School, but chose to stay and take care of the shop

Lanyang Fruit Shop is a long-established fruit shop in Hualien, and its history began with Ms. Zheng’s grandfather. In 1939, her grandfather moved to Beipu, Hualien with his only daughter, Ms. Zheng’s mother. Later, they moved to Fuxing Street in Hualien City where Ms. Zheng was born and lived with her siblings for 42 years. Her grandfather sold soymilk on the street in the 1960s. After the market was built, he chose the current location for their fruit shop because it was a busy spot where many people passing by. Two years later, he decided to open a grocery store next to it. Ms. Zheng said the business went really well that they could make up to thirty thousand New Taiwan Dollars a day, and they had to hire people to help. After Ms. Zheng graduating from National Hualien Girls’ Senior High School in 1967, her family wanted her to take care of the shop. So, she stayed and run the business till today.

Health and safety are more important than the business

“I had no choice after graduating. I had to take care of my family business anyway,” Ms. Zheng continued to say that in the early days, the people of their generation were loyal to their parents and would do whatever their family asked them to do. In the beginning, her mom asked her to help with paperwork such as writing checks. Gradually, she became the main staff in the store because of her capability. Ms. Zheng officially took over the business in 1993 when her mother retired. Before then, her grandfather and mother took care of everything and she didn’t have to worry at all; however, after she began to run the business on her own, she started to feel the pressure, especially when there was no business. When facing this kind of situation, Ms. Zheng comforted herself that “health and safety are more important than the business.” She had been through different periods of the market and witnessed its changes over time, so she referring the business as different weather. Sometimes the weather might be terrible, but as long as it didn’t make you sick then there is no need to make a big deal out of it.

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Fewer people buy fruit at the market, she looks forward to new stalls joining the market

In the past, they were busy during festivals and holidays because many people would buy fruit from their shop on those days. Sometimes they even closed the shop at eleven in the evening. Nevertheless, after 1993, many supermarkets were built and fewer people bought food at the traditional markets. This was a huge difference that Ms. Zheng experienced. In the era when there were no supermarkets, every household had to buy food at the traditional markets. Datong Market used to have as many as forty stalls, and there were seven stalls selling pork, but now there are only eight stalls still running. In addition, Ms. Zheng found that there are more and more diligent new immigrants doing business, but there are fewer and fewer young people. Therefore, she hopes that there will be new stalls joining the market to improve the business.

Trust is all that matters

Someone asked Ms. Zheng, how can you last for more than fifty years by selling so few items? Ms. Zheng answered that trust is all that matters. With good reputation and trust, she has many regular customers. They know she only sells fruit with good quality. You won’t see a large quantity of fruit at her shop, because she rather sells less fruits than sells fruits that are not fresh. Ms. Zheng said that the main purpose of selling fruit now is more like to make new friends. She likes to chat with her customers. Some customers will specially come to buy fruit from her, and even reserve in advance when coming back home from Taipei. Because they trust her.

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She kindly took care of stray flowers and kept a dog as her business partner

In addition to doing business, Ms. Zheng also likes to grow orchids. You can see beautiful orchids hanging on the wall of the shop. It turned out that Ms. Zheng started to grow orchids because her friend gave her a pot of orchids fourteen years ago. Sometimes, she will also take over the “stray flowers” from others. She feels fulfilling through cutting away their leaves, stems and occasionally taking them out for the sun. Ms. Zheng is a very kind person. She used to keep a dog named “Bear” for her friends. It had accompanied Ms. Zheng for fourteen years. They would take care of the shop together and have meals together. Ms. Zheng missed those good old days very much.