In a certain city there is a shop. Lettering on the plate glass window at the front of the shop says simply, "watch." Not watches; just "watch." If one were to look through that window, or indeed, step within the shop, one would find that, indeed, the stock is watches. Only mechanical watches, both hand-wound and automatic. Watches both new and vintage are for sale within the shop, with one case containing exclusively Swiss and Japanese pocket watches dating to the Nineteenth Century.
If one were to observe the shop over time -- and there are those who do -- one would notice certain anomalies about it. For instance, while it does business, and those who are in the know about watches cite it as the very best place to purchase watches within its nation, perhaps in the world, it does not seem to do enough business to justify its location just off a very upscale shopping district.
Then there is the matter of the staff. There are always between two to four women working within the shop, ranging in apparent age from twenty to sixty years. They wear a shop uniform of a white lawn blouse and pleated, knee-length skirt in a very particular, not to say peculiar, shade of blue which borders on violet. None of them wear name tags, but all of them wear very expensive watches. These women never leave the store, though after closing hours the shop appears empty.
A customer is always greeted by a woman of their own ethnicity when they arrive. If more customers arrive than the count of staff which has been observed, a new sales associate will enter the shop from a door in the rear moments before the customer enters. After four customers have entered, the shop door will be locked until one has exited. After the fourth customer has exited, if a new fourth customer enters, they will still be greeted by a sales associate of their own ethnicity, even if their ethnicity is different from that of the customer who departed.
Very occasionally, a woman will enter the shop who is not a customer. The woman will have a conversation with the oldest member of staff, who will escort her through the door in the back wall. She will never be seen again. Even more rarely, the door in the back of the shop will open, and a woman not dressed as a sales associate will emerge. She will smile and nod at the staff, walk to the street door, and emerge onto the street. She will not return to the shop.
