At No. 3 Guilin Street in Wenlan Town, the Mengzi Department Store stands as a monument to twentieth-century commerce. Located near Zhenshe Street and Renmin Middle Road—historically known as Zhengjie—this multi-level structure defined the retail landscape of Mengzi from the mid-1900s through its peak in the early 1990s. Underneath the modern municipal night-sky lighting, the building connects the old town's past with its present.

The ground beneath the store carries deep historical footprints. In 1928, county magistrate Zhang Zhiming renamed this thoroughfare Guilin Street to honor Wang Honghao, a local gentry who had served as a military governor. Walkers once traversed this district on irregular five-sided stone flagstones. Today, visitors rest on wood-and-stone sitting wells built around mature trees in the renovated plaza, watching shoppers enter the ground-floor retail spaces.

Inside, the building adapts to changing times. During China's economic reforms, the state-owned operations transitioned into the Mengzi County Department Store Co., Ltd. The ground floor, designed for high-traffic retail, houses jewelry outlets like the Jinmanli Jewelry Store, registered by operator Wen Cuifang. This shop, which offers gold and silver retail alongside custom metal processing, experienced a bizarre moment of local history during an opening celebration. Well-wishers placed fifty celebratory flower baskets along the street. Within two hours, passersby stripped the blossoms, leaving forty bare wire frames and ten missing baskets, an event that left the owner bewildered.

The department store remains a physical anchor in Mengzi, where the scent of fresh leaves, the cool touch of polished gold, and the solid weight of concrete converge.