McDonald’s on Showa Dori in Akihabara announced that they will be closing their doors after being in service in the Akihabara area for 22 years. They had a banner made which they hung outside of their location which reads:
Thank you for your continued support over 22 years.
The McDonald’s store on Showa Dori in Akihabara will be closing its doors at 6pm on January 31st. Thank you for your support over these last 22 years. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your patronage to this store and thank you humbly for your continued support of McDonalds.
See You
Such a heartfelt message to their customers. You rarely see something like this in the United States from major chain restaurants. It shows that the location cared about their customers and unfortunately can’t be there to support them anymore.
Burger King in Akihabara sent McDonald’s down the street a message by posting a similar banner in front of their location which reads:
Thank you for making many happy over 22 years.
Our two stores have been next to each other, but the final day has come for McDonalds.
Not only were they a great rival, they were a partner who loved Akiba and pushed us to do better. It hurts us and leaves us feeling empty that McDonalds will no longer be here. Everyone, we’re sorry to ask this suddenly, but please pay them one more visit. They were a challenger who kept us on our toes and made us smile. Thank you for your hard work, McDonalds.
Thank you
At the bottom of the banner, they have a PS which reads “so we can share our fond memories of McDonald’s together, bring in a receipt from the Showa Dori McDonalds location from 1/31 to 2/6 and enjoy a Burger King 100% Arabica Blend coffee, on us.”
That also seems like such a heartfelt message. But don’t judge a book by its cover. Burger King is straight-up savage. I say this because there is a hidden message within their message. The first character of each line of the message spells out a completely different story than the thanks that they’re portraying. The message reads “私たちの勝チ“ which translates to “We win”. This is absolutely ruthless, on the level of Wendy’s twitter callouts in the US and I love things like this. Call me heartless, but it’s pretty hilarious. With McDonald’s in Akihabara closing their doors, it takes one fast food joint away. If you’re not feeling fast food, you can always go across the street to the Gundam Cafe, it’s going to be getting a lot harder to miss soon.