SAKAYA’s Birthday

sakaya interior sugidama 12/8/07

We finally opened the shop on Saturday. It was both an exhiliarating and suspenseful day.  Tremendously excited, we awoke early and practically flew to the East Village to complete our final preparations before flipping the “Open” sign on the door at noon.  Who would come visit us?  What kind of reception would SAKAYA receive on its first day?  As retail greenhorns, we were entering uncharted waters….

Fortunately, with the amazing enthusiasm, support, patience, and generosity of an eager-to-learn-about-sake crowd of friends, neighbors, passersby, and well wishers, we enjoyed a memorable opening day.  However, it was not without its excitement.  Yes, we had a mini-crisis.  When attempting to complete our first charge transaction, we found that the DSL line, to which our credit card processing terminal was connected had gone down and was therefore inoperable. How could this be?  The waiting customers were gracious and patient with us as we struggled with the situation. Thanks to the quick thinking and technological wizardry of Hiroko and our friend and shop team memeberTimothy, an alternate phone link was improvised and our credit acceptance ability was restored.   Whew!

The opening day jitters and technology issues did little to dampen the excitement and fun of our first day.  We couldn’t be more grateful for the turnout of friends both old and new and the warm welcome that SAKAYA received on its birthday.   It was a day that we’ll never forget.

Please visit us.  We look forward to welcoming you!

Kanpai!



No Responses to “SAKAYA’s Birthday”

  1. Robert-Gilles Says:

    Dear Rick and Hiroko!
    Greetings and congratulations again!
    Keep us informed!
    Yoroshiku!
    Robert-Gilles