In Japan, a Noren is the cloth sheet that hangs at the front of any establishment that shows that they are open for business. A customer must usually lift the Noren to enter any shop.

If a “Noren is too low,” then it is said that it becomes difficult for new customers to enter because they cannot see the inside of the shop. So, a Noren that is “Too Low” is bad for business. People want to be able to see inside your shop to see the look and atmosphere and staff. If they cannot, many people will hesitate to enter.

But, when you stop to think about it, if a customer is already at your shop’s entrance to where they can just lift up the Noren to look in, then you already have them at your shop’s front door and that’s half the battle of just getting them inside and becoming a customer.

But how about people who are far away or standing at the station waiting for friends and looking for a suitable place to dine or shop? Well, that’s where a video on Youtube and then embedded into your webpage or Facebook page or other Social Media can help you to get new customers and to help them to find you and enter your shop! With Youtube video, people can see inside your shop, meet you and see what kind of a place you are running, and then they can feel comfortable entering for the very first time.

You know what the old saying is? “Familiarity breeds content.” If people know what the inside of your place looks like and who you and the staff are, it makes it MUCH easier for them to enter.

There’s an interesting bar and eating establishment near Fuchu station named Chain. The restaurant specializes in a friendly and warm atmosphere and various dishes featuring quality beef and other cuts of choice meat braised or pan fried. I tried several of the dishes and they were quite delicious.

Chain is run by a husband and wife team of Masamichi and Takeo Suzuki.

Chain doesn’t have their own webpage, but they decided to make a video for Youtube and place it on their Facebook page as well as on other social media sites. So we took the Robot55 team out to Chain and made the video for them and their customers as well as potential new customers.

Here is the video. I think with this, you can see what sort of place Chain is and the kind of people running it as well as get an idea about the food and drink menu.

With a video like this on your website or Facebook page or blog, new and first time customers can get a glimpse of what’s inside.

It makes it every easy for folks to lift the Noren at your shop and come on in. And that is good for your business!

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Izakaya? Chain

１８３－００４５ 東京都府中市美好町３－２－２－２０１号

3-2-2-201 Miyoshi-Cho, Fuchu City, Tokyo.

Hours: Mon – Sun:5:00 pm – 12:00 am

Tele: 042－207－2941

Map: http://yahoo.jp/fkvWZ9