Uwajimaya
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | headquarters | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | subsidiaries | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }}
Uwajimaya, Inc., doing business as Template:Nihongo, is a family-owned supermarket chain with its corporate headquarters in the International District, Seattle, Washington,<ref>"Uwajimaya Is Searching For A New Bag Design! Template:Webarchive" Uwajimaya. Retrieved on November 13, 2011. "Uwajimaya Corporate Office 4601 6th Avenue S., Seattle, WA 98108"</ref> and with locations in Greater Seattle and Oregon. Uwajimaya sells mainly Asian food—with an emphasis on Japanese—though it also stocks Western staples. The flagship store is in Seattle's Chinatown/International District with three other stores in Beaverton, Oregon, Bellevue, Washington and Renton, Washington. From 1968 to 1991 there was another store in the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Washington.
History
Uwajimaya was founded in 1928 by Fujimatsu Moriguchi of Yawatahama, Japan, in Tacoma, Washington. Fujimatsu sold fishcakes and other goods from his truck to Japanese farmers, loggers and fishermen at work sites.<ref name=Davila>Template:Cite web</ref> Moriguchi named his company Uwajima-ya after the town of Uwajima (Ehime Prefecture), where he first entered the business (ya (屋) is the Japanese word for "store").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As part of the internment of Japanese Americans following the entry of the United States into World War II, The US Government sent Moriguchi and his family to the Tule Lake Internment Camp in 1942. Upon their release, they moved to Seattle and set up shop at 422 S. Main Street in the International District.<ref name=ramirez>Template:Citation</ref>
In the 1960s, Uwajimaya began to expand its offering of non-food items and imported food from Japan and other Asian countries<ref name=Tice>Template:Cite news</ref> and experienced tremendous growth at the Century 21 Exposition in 1962. That same year, Fujimatsu Moriguchi died, and breaking with Japanese tradition, control of the company was passed to his four sons, rather than only his eldest son.<ref name=Tice /> The sons subsequently divided ownership with their three sisters and their mother Sadako.<ref name=historylink7598/>
A second store, at Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Washington, opened in 1968 and included a small garden and fountain at its entrance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1970, the International District store moved two blocks south to 6th Avenue S. and S. King Street, thus becoming one of the biggest in the Pacific Northwest. It had grown to cover six storefronts along South King Street and was further expanded in 1978 adding more than half again its original size.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A location in Bellevue, Washington, opened in June 1978 as Uwajimaya looked to target more non-Japanese customers through cooking classes and other events. The company also sought to expand further into the Seattle suburbs, including locations in Federal Way and Lynnwood.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1991, Tokyo-based Kinokuniya Bookstore opened its first Seattle location on the second floor of the Seattle store selling primarily Japanese language books, movies, DVD, videos, music, and periodicals.
In 1998, Uwajimaya, with Lorig Associates, started developing Uwajimaya Village, a mixed retail, residential center that would take up three city blocks including the purchase and closure of S. Lane Street between 5th and 6th Avenues South. The Lane Street closure was controversial within the community, especially among some local small-business owners who were concerned that it would increase traffic, decrease emergency vehicle access, and have a negative economic impact on other businesses. The International District saw a protest of over 500 strong, the biggest street protests since the Kingdome was built.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Save Lane Street, a group formed to stop the street closure, collected over $140,000 and 4,000 signatures and sued both the city of Seattle and Uwajimaya. The group lost their case, eventually appealing to the King County Superior Court and then the state Court of Appeals.<ref name=Davila /> In the end S. Lane Street was vacated to allow Uwajimaya to provide a pedestrian walkway to customer parking to the south.<ref name="ULI"/>
In 1998, Uwajimaya opened its third store, the first outside Washington located in Oregon near the Beaverton high-tech corridor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This location was formerly a Jafco store, another retail chain founded in Seattle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Upon completion of the Uwajimaya Village project in 2000, the flagship store moved one block south to a building nearly twice the size of the previous store at Template:Convert.<ref name="ULI">Template:Cite web</ref> Uwajimaya Village includes a food court, bank, restaurant, optician, beauty salon, cellular wireless store, and cosmetic shop. The Kinokuniya Bookstore also relocated to a new location at the corner of 5th Avenue S. and S. Weller Street. Above the first floor of retail shops and underground parking garage is the 176-unit Uwajimaya Village Apartments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sadako (Tsutakawa) Moriguchi, wife of Fujimatsu and sister of George Tsutakawa, died in 2002. She had worked in the store from its inception until she reached the age of 85.<ref name=historylink7598>Template:Cite web</ref>
Uwajimaya opened another location in Renton, Washington on July 1, 2009.<ref name=yee>Template:Citation</ref> A fifth location, in Issaquah, Washington, was announced in 2025 after the company acquired the lease of a former Rite Aid.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In August 2016, Uwajimaya announced its intention to launch a line of smaller, boutique stores known as "Kai Market by Uwajimaya".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kai Market opened in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood in 2017, but closed in 2020 due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name=stearns>Template:Cite web</ref> It remains closed as of the start of 2023.<ref name=kaimarket>Template:Cite web</ref>
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See also
References
External links
- Uwajimaya Company Website
- Mainichi Daily News Article Jan 06Template:Dead link
- Template:Cite news
- Chiu, Iisa. "Chinatown International District: Dim sum and then some." Seattle Times. November 24, 2005. Modified on November 25, 2005.
- Ramirez, Marc. "Uwajimaya celebrates its 80th anniversary." Seattle Times. October 8, 2008.
Template:Chinatown-International District, Seattle Template:Supermarkets of the United States