On July 6th, 2022, Beijing Youth Daily reported that online celebrity Bookstore withdrew from Beijing and left in a daze. Nearly ten months have passed, but the complaints that there is no way to spend stored-value cards after saying a few words and withdrawing from the store have intensified. Up to now, there are 6,986 matching results on the black cat complaint platform with "saying a few words" as the key word.
On April 12, the reporter of Beiqing Daily found that more than 500,000 rents and property fees owed to Haidian Wukesong Huaxi LIVE Commercial Complex were still in an unresolved state. Regarding the complaints of member customers’ stored-value cards, Yanji’s customer service hotline in Chengdu Headquarters replied to the reporter of Beiqing Daily, saying, "Yanji’s personal mobile phone number is registered and recharged, and the member stored-value cards need customers to apply for card refund and refund to Yanji’s platform. After waiting for the scheduled processing, it is expected that the refund will be completed within 180 working days. The refund is handled by our company’s finance, and the refund will eventually be returned to the customer. Don’t worry about this. "
Long term arrears
Ten months after defaulting on more than 500,000 rental property fees, it is still on hold.
According to public information, in 2006, the predecessor of the word — — Today’s reading bookstore was founded in Chengdu. Since 2008, today’s reading has entered the commercial center and expanded to Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and other cities. Yanjiyou is positioned as an integrated store of urban innovation and cultural life, which mainly provides comprehensive cultural services for urban youth groups aged 18 to 40, and on this basis, provides new lifestyle products led by brand-new design for a new generation of young people, such as new food, new ornaments, new homes, new hanging ornaments, new animation products, new sex toys, etc., and is committed to creating an urban cultural space covering bookstores, cafes, art galleries, cultural and creative life halls and creative incubators. According to the "Enterprise Check" information, Sichuan Yanjiyou Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was established in October 2014, and has completed four rounds of financing. The investors include JD.COM Science and Technology, Xinghan Capital and other well-known institutions, with a total financing amount of about 240 million yuan.
In 2014, Yanji opened its first store in Beijing — — The "Reading Today" store opened, located in Chuangye Street, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, and opened its first flagship store in Daxing in 2016. By the end of 2018, Yanji had opened eight more stores in Beijing, achieving full coverage of major urban areas such as Dongcheng, Xicheng, Haidian, Chaoyang, Daxing and Changping. In the first half of 2022, Yanji was in the last few stores in Beijing — — Liangmaqiao Guanshe Store, Wukesong Store and Financial Street Store closed one after another. At this point, Yan Ji withdrew from Beijing across the board.
As early as June 25th, 2022, the reporter of Beiqing Daily saw that the door of "Yanjiyou Reading Today" bookstore was locked during the on-site visit to Huaxi LIVE· Wukesong Commercial Complex in Haidian District, and the notice letter of termination of lease contract from Beijing Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center Co., Ltd. to Beijing Yanjiyou Cultural Service Co., Ltd. was posted at the door. According to the letter of notification, there have been long-term defaults such as arrears. As of June 14, 2022, the rent and property fees were owed more than 548,000 yuan.
Now that nearly ten months have passed, when the reporter of Beiqing Daily made a telephone call back to the property owner of Huaxi LIVE in Wukesong, the property owner said, "We have sent several lawyers’ letters here, and the debts are still being recovered. Up to now, it is in a state of shelving and unresolved. Although Yanji has withdrawn from Beijing, its corporate headquarters is still there. As a lessee, our shopping mall property company has received many complaints from customers that the stored value card can’t continue to consume after several words and withdrawal. We have all connected these complaints to the headquarters of Yanjiu, and they will handle the complaints in a unified manner. "
Expansion result
Nearly 60 stores in the country have been closed, leaving only 3 companies listed as untrustworthy by the Supreme Law.
At its peak, Yanji once opened nearly 60 stores in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Xi ‘an. Today, only three stores in Chengdu base camp are still open, including Youfang Shopping Center in High-tech Zone and Joy City in Wuhou District.
According to "Tianyancha", Beijing Yanjiyou Cultural Service Co., Ltd. has entered the list of dishonesty, which is 100% owned by Shanghai Yanjiyou Brand Management Co., Ltd., which is a untrustworthy company publicized by the Supreme People’s Court and listed by the court as a high-consumption enterprise for many times. In April, the company added three pieces of information about the person being executed, with a total execution target of more than 64 million yuan.
Duiji went from the online celebrity Bookstore with infinite scenery to the sudden departure, and finally shouldered huge debts, which became the mess of the untrustworthy company. He Qicong, an associate professor at the Institute of Cultural Innovation and Communication of Beijing Normal University, who has long been engaged in the study of the format of physical bookstores, said that Duiji took the mode of opening a store quickly with capital — — It is said that the founder of Yanji once said that he would "quickly open 100 stores in 16 cities across the country". The common way of this rapidly expanding consumer brand is to quickly lay offline consumer terminals in the core cities of the country, so as to quickly expand the total asset plate and seek more financing or even listing. It has been reported that most of them rely on external funds to "supply blood", and when investors can’t get a return, they lose the patience to continue investing. The break of the capital chain is estimated to be the direct cause of the large-scale closure of the store.
The aftermath of closing the store
It takes 180 working days for the member’s stored-value card to be refunded if the after-sales phone number of several stores is cancelled.
A few words and a large-scale closure of stores have also made the complaints of members’ customers who have no way to spend stored-value cards worse and worse. A large number of consumers who have no way to defend their rights have gathered in the message area of the store of the consumer comment website, and the amount of stored-value cards of members to be refunded in their hands is between 100 yuan and 1,500 yuan. On the black cat complaint platform, "Yan Ji You" was used as the key word to search, and a total of 6986 matching results appeared.
In this regard, the reporter of Beiqing Daily, as a member consumer, called the headquarters of Huaxi LIVE Store in Haidian District to handle two after-sales calls, all of which were unable to answer. After many twists and turns, the reporter of Beiqing Daily got through the phone number left in Beijing Guanshe Store. The operator said that because many stores had been closed for a long time, the phone number left was naturally cancelled.
Regarding the complaint that the member customers’ stored-value cards can’t be refunded after the store is closed, the operator said, "There are two kinds of cards that are sent to customers after a few words: one is a gift card used as a group purchase, and the money in this card can’t be refunded. Customers who hold this card can search for ‘ in the WeChat applet after we go online. Say a few words again ’ Bind gift cards for consumption. The other kind of card is the stored value card of Yanji Member, which is recharged by registering the customer’s personal mobile phone number. After the customer applies to our platform for card refund, it is expected that the refund will be completed within 180 working days … …”
The reporter of Beiqing Daily asked, "Why wait 180 working days for such a long time?" After a few words, the customer service operator responded, "Because after a few words, there are only three stores in Chengdu, and there are too many customers who go through the formalities of returning cards and fees, all of which are concentrated in Chengdu headquarters for unified handling, so it is necessary to schedule … Throw away the holidays in a year, so that you can get a refund after almost one year. The refund is handled by our company’s finance according to the normal process, and the refund will eventually be returned to the customer. Don’t worry about this. "
Text/reporter Zhang Enjie
Coordinator/Liu Jianghua
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