Knowing the importance of having reliable workers and building rapport with the local community for his business in China, Dominic Johnson-Hill, an icon of Beijing's streetwear culture, made a surprising choice by hiring Chinese retirees.

Johnson-Hill, the owner of Plastered, a popular T-shirt retailer, has lived in China for 20 years. In his two stylish shops in Beijing, he has always hired retired women from his neighborhood for his sales staff.

"I think you can trust the elderly a lot more than the younger generation," Johnson-Hill said. "They sort of grew up more socialist."

Initially, he hired a young woman to help run the shop, but she took the money and ran to the countryside. It was then when a retired woman in her 50s, who lived in the same courtyard, came to him offering her help. Johnson-Hill recalls her saying, "I'd like to help you, and you won't be cheated again."

"Suddenly, I saw the revenues go up and up. I realized that the one I was looking for was right under my nose, in my shared courtyard.

"She is part of Beijing, the queen of the hutong. She knows how to best present my T-shirts and the hutong culture," he said.

Hutongs, which feature Beijing's traditional alleyways and courtyards, have largely been demolished in favor of modern apartment buildings and shopping malls, so the few that remain are all the more precious.

Johnson-Hill explained that his so-called "hutong queens" are the perfect representatives for his T-shirts that seek to capture the cultural mystique of Beijing.

Another one of his "hutong queens" happens to be his store's landlady. He is grateful to be on such good terms with her, because he has witnessed many conflicts between businesses and their landlords over rent hikes.

In China, foreigners can run a joint venture with a local partner or run their own business as a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise, which requires initial capital that Johnson-Hill lacked back in 2005. So he rented a 13-square-meter shop in a hutong to sell his T-shirts.

The Plastered brand found quick success, allowing Johnson-Hill to leave that small space and open his own store in 2007. He opened a second location in early 2012, and says the firm generates around US$1 million annually.

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