Giving fruit as a gift is a common custom in Japan. But this fruit is not your normal greengrocers’ produce, complete with bumps, bruises and blemishes. The pick of the crop is grown with exquisite care and attention to detail - and commands an eye-watering price when it comes to market.
Classical music plays softly over the speakers in the Senbikiya shop in central Tokyo. The uniformed members of staff are politely attentive, ushering the customers to chairs and crouching down beside them to take their orders.
The ceilings are high, the fittings elegant, the lighting tasteful and the displays are beautiful. But this is not some designer handbag emporium or high-end jewellery store. Senbikiya is a greengrocers.
Ushio Oshima is showing us around. He is a sixth-generation member of the shop’s founding family. The business began back in the 19th century, piling fruit high and selling it cheap.
Gift of gratitude
That was until the wife of the second-generation owner astutely realised the real money was to be made by inverting the business model. Now Senbikiya must surely be the most expensive fruit shop in the world.
There are apples, the size of a child’s head, with evenly red, blemish-free skin on sale for 2,100 yen, or $25 (£15.80). That’s each, not for a bag. Senbikiya Queen Strawberries come in boxes of twelve perfectly matched fruits at 6,825 yen, $83 (£52.40). Even on a slow day they sell 50 boxes.
Then there are the melons, each perfect, of course, and topped with identical T-shaped green stalks. They’re 34,650 yen, or $419 (£264.50), for three.
“We specialise in gift-giving, fruits as gifts,” says Mr Oshima. “So it really needs to look good. The appearance is a very important part of it. Then there’s the service. The combination is what you pay for.”
Japan has two gift-giving seasons a year, one in summer and one in winter. Family members exchange presents but the tradition goes well beyond that. People offer presents to express gratitude, such as to their bosses. Companies often send gifts to customers and business partners.
Senbikiya has carved out a niche for itself at the very top of the market. For the Japanese it is similar to Issey Miyake’s status among fashion lovers, or Rolls Royce to car aficionados. But the desire for fruit perfection goes well beyond that.
by Roland Buerk, BBC | Read more:
Photo: Alfie Goodrich
