PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (KRON) -- Japanese supermarket Osaka Marketplace opened its second store in Foster City last year. It was met with support among the local community, being the only of its kind in the Peninsula city.
Eleven months later, Osaka Marketplace is taking its Japanese specialty offerings to Pleasant Hill, marking the first of its kind in the Contra Costa County suburb and adding to the original Fremont location that opened five years ago.
Ahead of the Nov. 20 grand opening, KRON4 got a sneak peek inside the supermarket and a guided tour by Osaka Marketplace COO Kazuhiro Takeda. See photos below.
The exclusive feature of the Pleasant Hill store is the food hall.
Similar to H Mart's San Francisco location, there will be restaurant vendors who will set up shop to the left of the grocery store, complemented by a dining hall with seating up to around 200 people, Takeda said. The four businesses are all Japanese and are meant to give customers a taste of Japan.
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The food hall will "open at a later date" after the grand opening, a press release states.
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Just like its other two stores, Osaka Marketplace offers specialty products from Japan such as wagyu, sandos (Japanese-style sandwiches) and pre-packaged and ready-to-eat sushi.
The variety of beauty products is what draws many customers to Asian supermarkets like this. Osaka Marketplace offers beauty products from mostly Japan but also has items imported from Korea.
There were select whiskey bottles (aged more than 12 years) inside a locked shelf. When asked how much those bottles are, Takeda laughed and elected not to answer.
Spanning 42,000 square feet, Osaka Marketplace replaces the former Orchard Supply Hardware. It is part of a shopping plaza in downtown Pleasant Hill near the Century Theaters, neighboring businesses like Five Guys, Paris Baguette and Jack's Restaurant.
“Osaka Marketplace shows the City’s commitment to prioritizing the attraction of businesses that are local," Pleasant Hill Mayor Sue Noack said in a statement. “A mix of local and national retailers provides Pleasant Hill residents a diversity of products and price options to choose from."
Takeda also operates a convenience-store-style Japanese market in downtown San Jose, Sakura Marketplace, which opened in June.
He plans to open 12 more such stores in the Bay Area over the next 10 years, but Takeda did not reveal when and where.
Osaka Marketplace adds to the recent wave of Asian grocery stores across the Bay Area -- a popular phenomenon among all kinds of backgrounds even outside the Asian community. Within the past month, new openings include T&T Supermarket in San Francisco and Hashi Market in Cupertino.
