By ABHISHEK GUPTA
Entrance of Yamate Ramen shop and MokMok bento shop(now closed)
While going down the street from McDonalds to all the way to the supermarket My Basket one will come across many old shops and remains of shops which were closed recently or long time ago. What I used to think was that the decline of Komaba shopping street is directly related to the abolishment of the Komaba Dormitory on campus. Whereas there are many more reasons due to which the shopping street had noted significant decrease in the number of shops on the street.
Some of the most major reason for the decline of the street are the age of the owner and the abolishment of the Komaba dormitory. As most of the shops on the street were or are more than 20 years old so, all these shops have experienced a lot since then. But , “ If people are hungry, they will find something to eat, and life goes on.” said the owner of MokMok bento shop which is closed now. She also added that, “Nowadays there are new shops in this area, they have a new bento service on campus, too. So it’s probably time for us to take a break.”. As most of the owners and the workers in the shop working there from very beginning of the shop are turning over 60s and 70s hence it is hard for them to work at this age.
Although Yamate Ramen shop is not on this street but is considered as the part of it as is just behind the campus. “Dormitory had around 400 people so it was the major source of customer for the ramen shop also most of the part time workers were students living in the dormitory” said the Yamate ramen owner, he also added, “So when the dorm was abolished the shop was affected a lot as there was a significant decrease in the number of customers in the starting.” As the yamate ramen shop is 25 years old hence have seen many ups and downs but as the owner told the abolishment of the dormitory was one of the toughest time. Also the owner mentioned that, “The best about the shop is that it i just behind the university so it is really easy for him to have the part time workers as the university students always came to the shop for applying for the part time job.”
There were many similarities as well as differences between the shops. The similarities were mainly because the shops were very near to the university so the type and most number of students were the students of the university. Now a days there are many new shops which are more preferred over the old ones as these shops are more modernise so are the latest trend. This can be seen as McDonald is the favourite eating sensation recently as many students prefer going there instead of other shops. So, as the owner of mokmok said its time to move on and especially its now their time to have a rest and let others work hard just as they have been doing in the past 20-30 years.