Before a customer could touch a bolt of imported fiber cloth in the 1970s, the air in the Neijiang Department Store often hummed with the sound of shattering glass. Demand was so intense that the weight of the crowd once crushed the display cases, the sharp ring of falling shards briefly silencing a room packed with people desperate for durable fabric. This was the daily reality for a landmark that defined the commercial heart of southern Sichuan.

Established in 1957, the store’s original five-story home on Wenying Street was a modest structure of brick and wood. Inside, sales clerks like Ma Ji stood within small enclosures formed by glass counters, acting as gatekeepers to a world of scarce goods. On the first floor, the scent of daily sundries filled the air. The second floor offered the tactile resonance of violins and erhus alongside limited rolls of camera film that were often claimed by large organizations before a single enthusiast could reach the counter.

The store’s influence grew alongside the city’s economy. By 1987, the aging wooden floors gave way to a modern concrete frame designed by the Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute. This new fifteen-story tower reached fifty-five meters into the sky, dominating the skyline. While the era of rationing cloth and negotiating for a single bicycle passed into history, the building remained a landmark of prestige.

Today, the site reflects the evolution from scarcity to abundance, standing as a physical memory of the years when Neijiang’s residents looked to these counters to glimpse the modern world.