Here’s where it gets weird. The store recently started stocking kombucha. In a shop that’s mostly giant plastic bottles of Fanta, this felt like finding a tuxedo at a beach party. Locals were baffled. “I came for a lottery ticket and a bag of crisps,” one customer told me, “not a fermented tea that tastes like vinegar.”
Pictures show the boom and bust of Chapel Walk since the 60s
The kombucha now sits next to the banana, unbothered. Nobody buys it. It has become a status symbol among the shop’s Instagram fans. If you post a photo of the kombucha, you are considered a “deep cut” fan. You are the hipster’s hipster of convenience store photography.
The Ghost of VHS Tapes
Look closer at the photos. Tucked behind the counter, there’s a shelf with three VHS tapes. Yes, actual VHS tapes from the 1990s. One is “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.” Nobody knows why they are there. The owner says they came with the building. I think they’re sentient.
These tapes have become a cult phenomenon. A local artist made a painting of them. Someone started a petition to preserve them. For goodness’ sake, they’re just dusty plastic rectangles holding a movie nobody liked. But in the Chapel Walk universe, they are sacred relics.
