It's a dog-eat-dog world down in Harajuku, where fickle fashion consumers abandon the old for the new as a matter of course and finding a successful formula for retail business success is often a case of trial and error.
The landscape of this peculiar corner of Tokyo has been altered by a flurry of new store openings over the past two weeks, some big, some small, some seemingly destined for success, others whose future is not so certain.
Whatever the scale, a new shop necessitates a reception party, and the prize for the biggest opening bash during this flurry of activity has to go to allodi-R, which opened late last month in Jinnan, near the Shibuya entrance to Yoyogi Park. With close to a thousand fashion-industry types in attendance, there was a big buzz surrounding this two-story Paris-themed boutique.