Chantic

[A place to relax and unwind with a cafe corner filled with soothing miscellaneous goods]

The name of the shop means “cute” in Malay. The owner opened the general goods store in February 2003. At the time, there were few places for tourists to rest casually in Yanagawa. “I want to provide a place where tourists can take a break when they get tired from walking around and sightseeing.” With that thought in mind, the owner opened a coffee corner.

Although it is just a corner of a general store, it has a nice table and chairs, and coffee is brewed properly after an order is placed. “I didn’t want to do things half-heartedly to make people feel at ease,” says the owner. They offer coffee and cake sets and light meals, but the prices are very reasonable. The general store imports and sells Asian folk crafts and antiques, including those from Bali. Recently, they have also started selling accessories such as pendants and earrings handmade by the manager’s daughter, as well as dried flowers. The products are so well-made that it’s hard to believe they are handmade, and until just before the COVID-19 outbreak, the store was overwhelmingly popular with foreign tourists.

 “I hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will subside and that many customers will visit Yanagawa again,” the owner said, standing next to a wooden carved owl that watches over the shop.