A potato specialty store, "RC★SHOP" (Tsuruta-cho, Kitatsugaru-gun, TEL 070-1146-1204 ), opened near JR Mutsu-Tsuruta Station on May 5th.

The store mainly sells potatoes with a choice of five seasonings and long potatoes. Chimon Ichinohe, a resident of Tsuruta, who loves potatoes so much that he grows them himself, quit his job and opened the store on his own.

At first, he considered operating from a food truck, but when he found out that the tenant was vacant, he decided to set up a store. The store area is about 16.6 square meters, and seats 8 customers. He likes purple, so he thought about incorporating purple into the interior of the store, but he used purple as an accent, incorporating purple into containers, etc.

The store's name is a combination of the initials of Ichinohe's son's and his own name. "I couldn't have opened the store without the help of those around me," Ichinohe recalls. Before opening, he held a tasting session and used feedback from those around him to improve the products. He hadn't thought about posting information on social media, but after receiving advice from an acquaintance, he set a goal of 1,000 followers before opening. He achieved this number before opening.

"Every menu item has a twist to it," says Ichinohe with confidence. Items include "flavored fries" (300 yen), "Double Potato A" with long fries, crinkle fries and bear-shaped fries, and "Double Potato B" with wedge fries and waffle fries (all 400 yen). "Takoyaki" and "Asarigaki" with clams instead of octopus (all 6 pieces for 350 yen), sweet potato chips (300 yen), colorful shrimp crackers (200 yen), and soft drinks such as cola and melon soda (150 yen) are also available. Menu items other than fries will be changed depending on sales.

According to Ichinohe, people of all ages and genders have been coming since the first day of opening, and there have even been elderly customers who order fries. Ichinohe is enthusiastic, saying, "More and more children are starting to stop by on their way home from school, which makes me happy. I want to make this a store where people can drop in casually."

Business hours are 10:00-17:30. Closed on Saturdays.