For those of you who have not been to Ochanomizu recently.

This is a story of when I was recently selecting a snowboard binding and I revisited this city. Let’s say for example that five models are released from a certain binding brand in a certain year. The individuality of each shop is shown in the models they have in supply. The important point in terms of procurement is whether the customers who visit the store will buy the items, so the preferences of the customers they have acquired until then influences the selection. Snowboarding goods stores can sgenerally be divided into two groups. One of the groups is the “pro shop”, where they are based on a fixed price, and they achieve customer satisfaction by providing thorough customer service, the latest information for enthusiasts, accurate product selection, and a close relationship after purchase. High-end models have an image of being carried by these small-scale, but highly specialized stores. The other group is the "mass retailer". In other words, I thought that the level of enthusiasm of the customers of a store is in direct proportion with the grade of the products they carry.

However, this season, I took my time roaming around like Urashima Taro from Owagamachi in Ochanomizu to around south of Surugadai. As I looked around the shops, the image that I had was changed. I saw some mass retailers, although not very many, that was carrying high-end models of certain enthusiast brands. I imagined for a moment. In such a store, there is an employee who has procured the product on his own (or had the buyer procure it) and is out in the shop thinking “I don’t know if it will sell, but I want to sell it”. Of course, even though he has used the high-end model of the enthusiast brand himself on the snow, has an understanding of the various advantages and disadvantages, and is prepared to demonstrate his high-quality sales pitch that is based on his own experience, unfortunately, such customers do not come and he has no opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge, and is feeling frustrated. With such a baseless imagination on my mind, I casually enter the shop and stand right in front of the high-end model of the enthusiast brand and speak up. Then, as expected, the employee came right to my side as if he was waiting for this moment and says, “This right here, I use it too”, and so forth. This was interesting because his story was convincing. I was talking with him while asking questions, when he asked me back “Why is a customer like you who is interested in this model, at our shop?” I was unsure how to answer his question, but it is proof that they are aware of the risk of having purchased this product. 

Among the numerous shops I visited in Ochanomizu, there were only a few shops that carried the brand model and color that I was looking for this time. In the end, I bought it from a place where I thought was being the most genuine. When I went into another shop on my way back and I asked about a certain goggle lens, they were stumbling to explain it to me while constantly reading a catalog, and so I exited the shop disappointed. There was a great difference in the quality of customer service.

The Ochanomizu mass retailer street is now a shop employee quality chaos/entertainment street. It is interesting if you casually visit with some purpose. If you come across a shop employee who has a lot of passion, I think that your slightly fixed worldview will expand. For people who want to obtain equipment for enthusiasts and have the time to go on foot to visit each shop, or for people who haven’t walked around Ochanomizu recently and are self-proclaimed to be particular about equipment (lol), how about walking around like this? If you actually go out and don’t get to encounter such an employee, that can’t be helped, but that might be when you feel appreciation for your favorite pro shop.