Photo of Usagi and Me inside the store
It rained heavily in the morning and the store was leaking, but by the afternoon it had calmed down.
Perhaps because the temperature had dropped a little, there were a lot of customers despite it being a rainy day.
Now then…
It seems like new stores have been opening up in the area recently. I've been checking my Facebook timeline and seeing the information pop up, so I'm watching with interest.
So, I had a friend who wrote something like this the other day.
I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't what I expected
"I was looking forward to the opening, but it wasn't what I expected."
As someone who runs a store, I found that comment to be quite moving.
The store owner had seen several posts and thought, "I understand..." but as someone in the same business, he couldn't bring himself to say it.
If you were the owner, you might say something gentler like, "Given the current trends, this is actually a fresh shop."
But the words "It's not what I thought" are very profound.
Even if you ask, "What kind of place is it?", you probably won't get a clear answer.
It's not the same as having different hobbies.
"No, it's not there..." That might be a bit close. Overall, the store feels vaguely rejected.
They have ordinary banners, they have lots of posters plastered all over the place, the accessories are tacky, they use Soei Kaku Pop font, etc.
I think there will be a lot of small details that come up, but even if you remove them all, I think people will still say, "Something's not right."
It's probably a trunk problem, not a branch problem.
That's because it's not clear what kind of person you want to please.
As I pondered over what the cause of this "something's not right" might be, the answer that came to mind was, "Because as a store we're not clear about the type of people we want to please."
Because the target audience for the store is unclear, the details expressed also become blurred and inconsistent.
A store that no one would choose.
If you can imagine what kind of people you want to please, you can think about things like "Would they be excited if we had accessories like this?", "Would they be happy with a menu like this?", or "Would they say this is too much?", and you can create a cohesive look for the entire store.
That way, even if you are different from what the customer imagined, they will just think you are "a little different from me" and not "something is different."
I guess that's about it...
It's just not right. I tend to use it a lot myself, but it's a pretty profound phrase.
I want to be careful too. I can learn a lot from other people's posts...
He looks like the owner of Usaboku, but something's different...
This is a photo from Instagram of Gesu no Kiwami Otome vocalist Kawatani Enon, sent by Moriya from Spain Barrisa Lisa, who said, "He looks like the store owner."
I think it's just the angle, but it made me laugh a little.
But something's not right...
See you soon.
