The Kura Sushi “Revolving Sushi Bar” restaurant planned for Cherry Hill had its front signage put up in place this week for their upcoming location in the “Marketplace at Garden State Park” complex on Route 70. Kura is in the buildings in front of the Wegmans store.
If you are unfamiliar with Kura… well have you even see those viral clips of Tokyo sushi restaurants where fresh sushi is prepared and placed on a continuously revolving conveyor belt? An amazing variety of sushi is whisked past every table… and customers simply take what they want!
That is what Kura Sushi is all about… and that is what is coming to Cherry Hill!
I first broke the news on this Cherry Hill location back in January.
Within the Garden State Park complex the location is at the front corner of the popular shopping center, in the immediate area of Panera Bread and directly next to the Philadelphia Eagles Pro shop.
Kura Sushi has another area location in Philadelphia that I hope to visit soon, and according to their website they have 64 locations in the US with 9 more coming soon.
For my visit on Thursday, not only did I see the new signage just as it was finished being installed, I was able to peek into the building interior to see the construction progress, and even had a chance to introduce myself to a member of the Garden State Park management team!
My wife and I joke about my having “Mark Powers” because I just seem to “catch a break” with things going my way… more frequently than others.
I like to think it’s because I am constantly on-the-go, and just being in so many different places every week the odds of me “catching a break” and finding something new can go up significantly. Ya have to make your own luck!
So last Thursday I drove over to the new Insomnia Cookes on Haddonfield Road in Cherry Hill to write about their new location, and on the way back home I thought “Hmmm I wonder how that Kura Sushi Place is doing?”
As a side note, I track all of my stories and leads in a database application which currently has over 1,000 entries! So when I visit an area such as “Cherry Hill West”, I can quickly get a listing of other places in that area to check up on “while I’m here”. I digress… maybe I’ll show that database in a future video.
So I stop in at Kura and immediately see the new signage in place, with the sign crew still there and cleaning up the construction area!
It was maybe 11:30am and they must’ve started early to get that sign up that morning (or were completing it from the prior day)
I sneakily peak my head into the door to check on progress, which is still early in the process… but new drywall is mostly in place.
Just then a very professional looking woman appeared behind me out of thin air, like a scene in a movie “where did she come from?!”. Ha!
She introduced herself as one of the Garden State Park management team, who just happened to stop in and check on the construction progress at the same time I was there.
We had a lovely chat… I was disappointed she wasn’t aware of 42Freeway… and then she told me Kura is targeting a late October, early November opening. To which I said “oh so before Thanksgiving”. Yes.
I went back to my car to get her a business card. I know she walked into the building and I took two steps in to find her… and just like a scene from a movie, she was gone!
So that morning I left my house just wanting to buy some cookies and write a story on Insomnia, and came home with a second story and an awesome new contact. Mark Powers. Ha!
Kura Sushi – Revolving Sushi Bar
A bit more on the Kura Sushi experience… well first off they have amazing sushi freshly made by professionally trained sushi chefs.
The big standout twist to Kura Sushi Is that after each fresh sushi platter is made, it is placed on a protective clear bubble plate and placed on a conveyor belt!
The conveyor belt moves through the restaurant past each of the dining tables… customers can see what’s passing by and decide if it’s something they want to dine on.
And if you see something like, you just take it off the belt!
Orders and payment are tracked by the plates themselves which are encoded for each of the different entrée items. Each booth is outfitted with a slot to return the plates to, and during that process the code is read from the plate, and your sushi platter is added to your order.
Each table area has its own dedicated screen to track your order. That screen also features fun animations and games.
Another fun aspect to the dining experience is each table screen has an overhead ball dispenser, and with the return of every 15th plate, a plastic ball (hollow like an plastic Easter Egg) is dispensed from the holder, and it contains a prize!
Kura Sushi are the innovators of this revolving sushi concept, which started back in Japan in 1977. They have over 500 locations across Japan, Taiwan and the United states.
I do plan on stopping over at the Philadelphia location of cure very soon and we’ll try to film the video when we experience… I’ll have a lot more to share then!
Links and Location
Kura Sushi Cherry Hill (Opening Fall 2024)
2000 ROUTE 70 SUITE C
CHERRY HILL, NJ 08002