• ◉Department Store Events: A Typical Day

    8:30–9:00 Arrival at Work / Morning Meeting

    ・Upon arriving at the department store, enter through the employee entrance.

    ・Attend the morning meeting with the event coordinator and other vendors to review the day’s sales targets and any announcements.

    9:00–9:50 Setting up the sales area and preparing merchandise

    ・Arrange knives on the display stands (fixtures).

    ・Set up cutting boards and ingredients (such as tomatoes and cucumbers) for demonstration cuts, as well as whetstones and demonstration tools.

    ・Check that price tags, POP displays, and signs are clean, and ensure your appearance is neat and professional.

    10:00 Store opens
    We welcome customers with a smile.
    10:00–12:00 Morning customer service and demonstrations

    ・We approach passersby and ask, “Would you like to try a knife that cuts really well?”

    ・We begin a demonstration (performance) where we actually cut ingredients with the knives to showcase their sharpness.

    ・We provide easy-to-understand explanations to customers who stop by about the knife’s steel, maintenance methods, and how to choose the right one.

    12:00–13:00 Lunch Break
    We take turns eating lunch in the backroom or at the department store’s cafeteria.
    1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Afternoon Peak Hours: Enhanced Customer Service

    ・This is the time of day when more homemakers and cooking enthusiasts visit. We assist customers at the register who are surprised by the sharpness of our knives and provide a quick knife-sharpening service (as a perk for purchasers, etc.).

    ・We restock and inspect items that are running low on inventory.
    5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Evening Service and Sales Tally
    While serving customers on their way home from work, I prepare to tally the day’s transactions and sales.
    7:00 PM – 7:30 PM Closing Up and Tidying Up

    ・We stop serving customers in time for the department store’s closing time, such as 7:00 PM or 7:30 PM.

    ・We put the knives on display back into their special cases and store them safely.

    ・We clean the sales floor, write the daily report (covering sales and customer feedback), and clock out.