There are footfall drivers and there are footfall drivers. Now that everyone has hot and cold running food to go, a beer cave looms large on the wish list of many an ambitious retailer keen to make their store stand out from the crowd.
However, Captain Hook could count on his gammy hand the number of convenience stores that use an active volcano to pull in the punters.
We’re talking about the Lawson Fujikawaguchiko store here, which – you may have deduced – is in Japan and which most folk wouldn’t give a second glance if it didn’t sit in the shadow of Mount Fuji.
However, tourists have been flocking to the shop in droves to snap it with Japan’s iconic peak seemingly perched on its roof. They’re also stepping into traffic, blocking pavements and trespassing – all to capture the perfect pic.
Under The Counter disapproves of such Insta-generation behaviour; in his day being a tourist meant a bracing week in Girvan. Black and white photos of Mrs UTC with Ailsa Craig seemingly perched on her head were captured with a Box Brownie. For readers unfamiliar with the geography of the West of Scotland, it should be noted that Ailsa Craig is a small island in the Firth of Clyde and not a female acquaintance of the UTCs.
Anyway, polite notices and security guards have done little to quell the bad behaviour in Fujikawaguchiko; things are so bad that the town council has now erected a 2.5m-wide by 20m-long barrier to block out the view.
Given that tourists were still snapping the store on overcast days when Fuji wasn’t even visible, the Auld Boy is concerned that the barrier itself might become a tourist attraction – a sort of poor man’s Berlin Wall.
He imagines the owner of Lawson Fujikawaguchiko is fervently praying so.
Failing that, they could always get themselves a beer cave.
