● Half-price coffee and tea menu beverages when paying by Rakuten Card
● Free 1 GBPS Wifi
● https://cafe.rakuten.co.jp/
Tokyo, May 27, 2014 - Rakuten, Inc. will open the doors to its flagship, Kashiwa Sato designed “Rakuten CAFE” in Shibuya, Tokyo on Thursday, May 29, 2014. The new venture will offer customers a menu featuring some of the most popular desserts and snacks from Rakuten Ichiba and will allow patrons to experience a variety of Rakuten services.
Rakuten CAFE is an offline extension of Rakuten’s expansive suite of Internet services. In addition to serving menu items influenced by Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten CAFE will offer information to the public on everything from financial services to Kobo eReading, and of course, online shopping. Kobo eReaders are located throughout the café for customers to freely use, in addition to complementary use of power sockets and mobile phone chargers. In addition, Rakuten CAFÉ will offer 1GBPS Wifi*, free of charge. Rakuten CAFE will also offer customers multiple payment methods, including Rakuten Edy touch payments and Rakuten SmartPay mobile credit card payment processing service. A concierge is also on duty at all times, ready to answer any questions customers might have about Rakuten services.
On the menu are Rakuten Ichiba’s most popular desserts, light meals and drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. As a true café Rakuten CAFE prides itself on the quality of its coffeehouse beverages and aims to offer a selection of premium coffee-based beverages (including drip coffee, latte, cappuccino, and espresso) made from selectively curated coffee bean varieties. In addition, coffee and tea menu beverages are half price if purchased using Rakuten Card.
Designed by award-winning art director Kashiwa Sato, Rakuten CAFE’s design marries modern and traditional Japanese aesthetics, defined by straight lines, natural materials and understated sophistication. Located in Japan’s youth and fashion hub of Shibuya, Rakuten CAFE is sure to become another Shibuya landmark and a milestone in Rakuten branding.
With Rakuten CAFE, Rakuten hopes to create a venue that will introduce new audiences to the Rakuten’s services and to offer an additional marketing channel for Rakuten Ichiba merchants.
In collaboration with the NPO Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities (ETIC), part of the sales from Rakuten CAFE will be donated to the Disaster Recovery Leader Development Project and a range of other youth causes.
Related high-resolution images, including photos of the Rakuten CAFE space, can be downloaded from the following link from May 27. Images from the May 27 media preview and the May 29 opening ceremony will be available soon: http://www.image.net/rakuten_2014_0529
*actual connection speeds may vary