The unmanned coffee shop in Xiamen paid for things at will instead of losing them.

Make your own coffee and pay at will; in a second-hand bookstore, customers take books at a fixed price.

Things in unmanned shops in Xiamen have increased instead of being lost.

In the unmanned coffee shop, customers who don't know each other make their own coffee and start talking.

Most of the things in unmanned coffee shops are recycled or given away by friends (photo by Feng Xiaofei)

Three "post-80s" have opened an unmanned coffee shop in Shapowei because they "want to create a venue for everyone to play together". Here, there is no cashier, no waiter, there is only a full set of equipment for customers to do it themselves, and a deposit box for customers to give money. On the other hand, there is also such an unattended shop outside Jimei Island. This is a secondhand bookstore where customers set their own prices for the selected books and pay at will.

In the year since the opening of the unmanned coffee shop, there has been an increase in the number of things in the shop. Since the second-hand bookstore was left unattended, it has attracted more customers and earned more money than before. For such an unmanned shop, Shao Yeh, the owner of the unmanned coffee shop, said that he hoped to use it as a window in Xiamen to show the civilization and warmth of Xiamen.

Unmanned coffee shop

Not for profit but to make friends.

Make your own coffee and pay for it.

"whether you come or not, the master may not be here; whether the master is here or not, you can come," says a blackboard hanging at the door of an inconspicuous small shop at No. 19 Shapowei University Road in the old city of the island. "Tea, food, coffee, by your shopkeeper, along with fate," is the location of this uninhabited cafe.

No employees do it themselves.

At first glance, the storefront is so small that after entering the door and the tourists who come out have to walk sideways, there is no way to see that this is a coffee shop. However, go straight in. at the end, there is a large room with tea sets, and three or four girls at the wooden table are chatting. They are local customers in Xiamen. What about the boss? "there is no boss here!" The girls answered with laughter.

On the second floor, coffee machines, coffee beans, cups and faucets are available. A young girl chatted with a middle-aged woman with a freshly brewed coffee. The 20-year-old girl came to Xiamen from Qingdao for a trip. She learned about the shop on Wechat and found it all the way. Sure enough, she couldn't see the owner, so she made coffee by herself. The middle-aged woman lived in Xiamen Lake for several years, but she never knew such a place. She also saw the introduction on Wechat and came here with suspicion. The girl laments that this is really a good place, in line with the tone of Xiamen, while middle-aged women ask: "can this really make a profit?" "I don't know." During the conversation, a boy came in from the rooftop outside, put 10 yuan into the deposit box at the door, and then left with his friends.

No product, no profit.

"now you can receive dozens of yuan a day. In fact, we do not have products, so there is no need to make a profit. To build such a coffee shop is to provide a place for people to make tea, drink coffee, communicate and read books. " Shao Ye, one of the partners of the coffee shop, and his friends occasionally showed up on the second floor to do it themselves, just like other customers.

'in fact, the store doesn't cost much economic cost, 'Mr. Shao said. The third floor of the shop is a very secluded room, they have been transformed into a classical style hotel, can only stay one or two people a day. The income of the hotel is basically enough to pay the rent of the whole suite.

As for the coffee shop downstairs, in addition to painting the walls and installing tables and chairs, almost everything else in the shop is recycling or gifts from friends. Most typically, the whole set of coffee machine equipment and cups that make this shop a coffee shop are from a friend who no longer runs a shop. A friend from Wenzhou came again for the second time and brought three large boxes of valuable tea. The photos on the wall are provided for free by a friend of a photography studio, and even the logo of the coffee shop is designed with the help of professional designer friends.

In addition, the blackboard in the store is painted black with a door board moved back from the demolition site, the lampshade is actually coffee filter paper, and the message book for tourists is a yellowed exercise book cleaned out by a friend. "now, as long as there are waste items in a friend's house, if he thinks it might be useful, he asks us if we want it, but as long as he gives it to the master, he will be able to put it in the right place." The master is also one of the partners, like design, like literature, coffee shop Wechat promotion is written by him. The other partner, Libin, is an interior designer, and he draws all the posters in the store.

Make friends and show civilization

Shao Ye's hometown, Henan, does business in Fujian. He will spend more than ten days a month in Xiamen to get in touch with his friends and deal with some business matters by the way. Before there was no coffee shop, Shao would often sit down and chat with local Adian and Libin, who is also an outsider, in a friend's shop on Kaihe Road.

At the beginning of last year, Shao Ye felt that it was not convenient to party in a friend's shop all the time, so he thought of finding a place where tea and coffee could be specially used as a place for friends to meet, and open it to everyone to make more friends. The idea was supported by Apoint and Libin, so they found Shapowei. On the one hand, Shapowei also feels like old Xiamen, and on the other hand, the rent here is cheap. at that time, the monthly rent of the three-story cottage was only 5000 yuan, and they signed it for five years.

The coffee shop opened in May last year and has been unattended from the beginning. "all familiar friends have the key to this place. You can come whenever you want. After driving for almost a year, a lot of things have increased. " Up to now, Shao Ye has sent out more than 300 keys, and there are often more tea, coffee beans and even green plants in the shop.

Shao Ye once said confidently: "because it is in Xiamen, this shop can stay open all the time." Recently, however, more and more customers have come after being exposed by the media. This bothers Shao: on weekends, some people come with their families, saying that this is a free place to eat and drink, and some tea party organizations even start activities here directly. "our original intention is to show the degree of civilization in Xiamen, and the people who hope to come here are with the mentality of participating in the maintenance of Xiamen's urban civilization and reflecting Xiamen's enthusiasm, not the mentality of taking advantage." (source: Quanzhou net-Southeast Morning Post)