Marukai Corporation U.S.A. is an American offshoot chain of retail markets that imports and sells Japanese goods in American cities started by the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan-based . Unlike other Japanese supermarkets, which may carry non-Japanese products based on local diversity, Marukai has Hawaiian products as a core focus in addition to Japanese in all its stores. Its headquarters are in

Gardena, California Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census. Until 2014, the US census cited the City of Gardena as the plac ...

, in

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino ...

History

The company was founded in 1965 by Richard and Hidejiro Matsu, sons of the founder of parent company Marukai Trading. In 1975, the company established Marukai

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. By 1980, it changed to its current name and opened Marukai Wholesale Mart in

. The company began to emphasize membership-based retail shopping. In 1999, the company opened its first 98cent Plus Store carrying

Daiso is a large franchise of 100-yen shops founded in Japan. The headquarters are in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture. Daiso has a range of over 100,000 products, of which over 40 percent are imported goods, many of them from China, South Kore ...

products, before Daiso had its own stores in US. The company has since expanded to 11 locations in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

with over 400 employees in California. These stores sell Japanese food and household items. In 2013,

Don Quijote Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a v ...

purchased 100 percent of Marukai stock. In 2015, Marukai started operating stores under the name Tokyo Central.

Locations

201912 Tokyo Central & Main in San Diego

Marukai *Marukai Market **

Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57, ...

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles Little Tokyo ( ja, リトル・トーキョー) also known as Little Tokyo Historic District, is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is ...

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

* Marukai Wholesale Mart **

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

***

Kalihi Kalihi is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States. Split by the Likelike Highway (Route 63), it is flanked by downtown Honolulu to the east and Mapunapuna, Moanalua and Salt Lake to the west. Kalihi is the ...

*** Ward Village (closed September 30, 2017) Tokyo Central * Tokyo Central & Main **

* Tokyo Central Specialty Market **

** Costa Mesa, California **

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific Oc ...

West Covina, California West Covina is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California, located east of Downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and is part of Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 106,098 at the 2010 census. West Covi ...

Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census. Y ...

Controversy

On March 9, 2006, Marukai agreed to pay a $52,000 fine to the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

for selling 11 unregistered Japanese pesticide products. In 2011, the company was fined $222,030 for selling and distributing unregistered pesticides and mislabeled pesticide devices, violations that were found in 2008.

References

External links

Official Marukai Corporation websiteOnline shopping websiteMarukai Hawaii
{{Supermarkets of the United States Japanese supermarkets Supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Gardena, California American companies established in 1965 Retail companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in Hawaii Japanese-American culture in Los Angeles Japanese-American culture in California Japanese-American culture in Hawaii 2013 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies

History

Locations

Controversy

See also

References

External links