Retailer to bring Japanese style to St. Vital Centre

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This article was published 04/01/2019 (2647 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Is Winnipeg ready for a store that offers 50 different designs of chopsticks and other Asian-style products?

Japanese variety chain store Oomomo (pronounced oo-MO-mo) thinks so and is preparing to open in St. Vital Centre later this year.

Oomomo stores are described as high-end “dollar stores” with a Japanese sensibility. They are spotless and beautifully laid out with products typically priced in the $3 range. It promises regular updates with new and trending product from Japan.

St. Vital Centre posted the impending arrival of Oomomo on Facebook on Friday.

“When there’s a first-to-market store, we’re going to go there and plead our case for St. Vital, and we had a space that met the size parameters they were looking for,” said St. Vital Shopping Centre manager Kyle Waterman.

It’s a good-sized retail space of about 7,000 square feet. Oomomo means “big peach” in Japanese, a symbol of good blessing.

“Most of our items are imported from Japan. Most are $3, a little expensive compared to (dollar stores) but better quality,” said Aoi Doi, supervisor of the Oomomo store in West Edmonton Mall, who is helping launch other stores across the country.

It carries many items similar to Daiso and Seria stores, popular discount brands in Japan. “You can find Daiso everywhere in Japan,” Doi said.

The stores contain more than 8,000 Japanese products including cleaning products, stationery, cosmetics, household goods like Asian-style dishes, toys and snacks.

“If I say maybe a small Walmart? We have everything for your life,” Doi said.

They are strong in stationery and offer up to 50 different pens, Doi said. As for the 50 different chopsticks? “There are some like for cooking, for guests, for special occasions…” as well as training chopsticks for kids.

Dishware includes teapots and teacups and little dishes used with sushi. It stocks baking tools and moulds, as well as unique Japanese cookware like the makisu, a rolling mat woven from bamboo.

Store clerks are on hand to interpret packaging when it comes printed in Japanese only.

Oomomo stores are spreading fast. The first store opened in West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton on Canada Day in 2017. Three more stores opened last month: a second Edmonton store and one each in Vancouver and Toronto. Second stores are slated to open shortly in Vancouver and Toronto.

“We still have a lot of problems we’re trying to figure out, little by little,” Doi said. That includes what products Canadians like best, she said.

Waterman said the space at St. Vital Centre is still being prepared and he doesn’t expect Oomomo to open until this summer.

“Oomomo has definitely been accelerating its presence in the Canadian market. They’ve been gaining a lot of positive attention,” he said.

St. Vital Centre has 160 retailers spread over nearly one million square feet and has annual traffic of about eight million shoppers

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca