The Ito-Yokado Kitami store, which opened in 1985 and has been a staple in the Okhotsk area, has announced that it will close at the end of August 2024. This is the third Ito-Yokado store to close in eastern Hokkaido, following the Ito-Yokado Kushiro store in 2019 and the Ito-Yokado Obihiro store scheduled for June 2024. Now that this long-established supermarket that has led the times is about to disappear from eastern Hokkaido, we look back on the history of Ito-Yokado, Hokkaido, and the Ito-Yokado Kitami store.

Hokkaido's Ito-Yokado is steadily declining

The history of Ito-Yokado in Hokkaido began in 1975 with the opening of its first store in Obihiro. It was followed by other stores in Sapporo, Tomakomai, Ebetsu and Asahikawa, and by around 2000, 15 stores were operating across the prefecture. Now, more than 20 years later, according to a management plan by Seven & i Holdings, which operates Ito-Yokado, a policy of concentrating capital in the Tokyo metropolitan area and closing stores in regional areas has led to the closure of stores in regional areas that are difficult to turn a profit in.

In eastern Hokkaido, the Obihiro store will close in June 2024, followed by the Kitami store in August 2024, meaning that Ito-Yokado will disappear from eastern Hokkaido.

The Kitami store, which opened in 1985, also promotes local products.

The Ito-Yokado Kitami store opened in February 1985. It has been loved by local residents for a long time, and in 2016, it signed a partnership agreement with Kitami City to expand sales channels for local products and promote local production and consumption. Opportunities to pick up local products at the store have increased. In addition, local handmade artists gather several times every few months to sell a variety of handmade works, and agricultural high school students sell vegetables and processed products that they have grown themselves. Many community-based events have also been held.

The closure of the Ito-Yokado Kitami store will mean the end of these community-based events, which is sad news for those who were looking forward to them.