| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail, Food court |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Area served | California Illinois New Jersey |
| Products | Japanese cuisine |
| Website | mitsuwa.com |
Mitsuwa Marketplace (ミツワマーケットプレイス) is a Japanese supermarket chain in America, with locations in California, New Jersey, and Illinois.
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Mitsuwa has six stores in three metropolitan areas in California:
The Chicago-area store is located at 100 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights, Illinois, part of a number of Japanese businesses located in Arlington Heights, and opened in 1991. The store is open 365 days a year[1] from 9 am to 8 pm. Mitsuwa is the largest Japanese Marketplace in the Midwestern US. The Chicago store is one of two that are located east of the Rockies. This Mitsuwa location, like those in other states, was formerly known as Yaohan. "True World Market" has a sister store, called "One World Market" that remains open in Novi, Michigan, near Detroit.
The food court has many traditional foods, such as sushi, tempura, noodles, etc. It is made of the Otafuku-tei [Now Replaced by Gabutto Burger], Kayaba, Santoka Ramen, Jockey Express, Daikichi Sushi, Pastry House Hippo, and Mama House restaurants. Mitsuwa also has a travel agency named JTB. There are two entertainment shops in Mitsuwa Chicago, JBC Video, a Japanese video rental store, and Sanseido Book Store, a Japanese book shop. A cell phone store, Galaxy Wireless, is also located at the Chicago Mitsuwa.
Mitsuwa Chicago had a china store called Utsuwa no Yakata. This store is closed as of April 1, 2006. Sanseido Bookstore expanded into the area previously owned by that china store.
The location also has two personal care shops, Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics store, and Super Health, a vitamin and other health supplement store.
The Edgewater, New Jersey store is located on 595 River Road. It has a food court (including an Italian Tomato restaurant, a Yokohama St. Honore bakery and a sushi bar called Daikichi-zushi), a bookstore owned by Sanseido company, a gift shop selling Bape clothing and golf clubs, a video store that carries DVDs and Laserdiscs of movies and a store selling Japanese ceramics and denki-gama, making Mitsuwa more of a mini-mall than a traditional supermarket. It is a small taste of what current Japanese multi-story malls, or subway stations, are like.
The supermarket section sells fresh produce and certified Angus beef, as well as Japanese drinks and snacks such as Yakult, Calpis, Ramune, Ikechi Shrimp Chips, Pocari Sweat, Pocky, Pretz, and Japanese liquor such as Sake and Shōchū.
The Sanseido bookstore section sells Japanese music CDs, novels, job applications, children's books, manga, and imported magazines (including dozens of Japanese fashion magazines) such as Weekly Shonen Jump and Disney Fan.
There is also a kiosk that sells Ito En tea and Minamoto Kitchoan that sells Japanese sweets such as manju, mochi, and Inja.
The New Jersey location runs an exclusive shuttle bus between the store and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. The bus is intended for Mitsuwa customers only and does not make any stops on its route.[2]