Some observations from a socially distanced walk around central Tokyo yesterday:
* less foot traffic than you’d expect on beautiful day in spring that was holiday, but still high
* 98% mask usage
* 95% of neighborhood boutiques shut down.
* less foot traffic than you’d expect on beautiful day in spring that was holiday, but still high
* 98% mask usage
* 95% of neighborhood boutiques shut down.
Interestingly, about 70% of them were still operating, about 50% through online storefronts or pseudo-storefronts (“Here’s our Instagram just DM us what you like and we’ll ship it to you and bill you”) and half through “We are closed but you can see wares by appointment.”
That second one increases my confidence that a lot of the retail in this neighborhood exists to serve a very small number of very high-consuming clients (we’re an epicenter of people who have to be *professionally* fashionable) and is open to public mostly as branding expense.
Hat tip to Ruriko for this theory, because when I came here I was extremely puzzled on how anyone could pay an $8k rent selling $50 hats.
“That’s not really the business. The business is selling (a starlet) $5k+ in hats a month.” “How do you know she shops there?” “So oblivious”
“That’s not really the business. The business is selling (a starlet) $5k+ in hats a month.” “How do you know she shops there?” “So oblivious”
