Ten Reasons I Love (and Envy) the Mitsuwa Malls

Sometime back in the early nineties (1992 or 1993), I spent a day searching for work in the Chicago suburbs.  After handing out my resume at some company in Arlington Heights, I decided to look around for a place to have lunch.  For some reason that escapes me today, I decided to save time by running into a grocery store and buying lunch there.  By pure chance, I drove by a large grocery with Japanese signage in front.  I decided to give it a try, and thus discovered one of the most interesting ethnic institutions in the U.S. that I am aware of.

The Mitsuwa chain operates nine Japanese mini-malls in the U.S. (seven in California, one in Chicago, and one in New Jersey- directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan).  In New York, you can even catch a free shuttle bus from Port Authority to the Mitsuwa store across the river. 

What makes Mitsuwa stores so special?  Here are the ten things that most impress me:

• The “ethnic food court”.  From my perspective, the core of the mini-mall is its food court.  Indeed, it may be that a large number of clients come to Mitsuwa simply to eat here.  As in more traditional malls, the food court serves as the “town square” of the institution; people come to eat, mingle, people-watch, and just hang out.  When we (i.e. non-Japanese) think about eating Japanese food, we usually think in terms of individual restaurants, not food courts.  Of course, in Japan the term ‘Japanese cuisine’ would probably conjure up several different types of food, many of which are represented at the food court.  This diversity of (culinary) expression makes the mall feel more “authentically” Japanese; as their website states, “you will feel like you’re in Tokyo“.
• Unexpected offerings at the food court.  What is also interesting about the New Jersey food court is that it offers choices that we might not immediately pick up on as Japanese.  There is a “Japanese style Chinese restaurant” here, as well as a branch of a well-known Italian restaurant chain from Japan (which, I presume, offers “Japanese style Italian food”).  In other words, if we applied this concept in an Israeli mini-mall, not only would “typically Israeli” food be represented; offering a Burger Ranch outlet, and an Aroma or Arcaffe coffee shop, would broaden the food court’s range of choices while making the atmosphere seem even more authentic.
• Recognized national brands.  The mini-mall is not only Japanese in its language, but in terms of the brands it hosts.  The Fugetsudo candy store, the Shiseido cosmetics store, and the Italian Tomato restaurant are all branches of large national chains back in the mother country.  The travel agency in the mall is an affiliate of Japan’s largest travel agency. In other words, the mall exposes “culture” at several levels – not only in the forms of Japanese language and ‘traditional culture’, but also in terms of branding and ‘pop culture’ as well.
• Bilingual signage.  The stores seem to maintain a good balance of displaying signage in Japanese (which benefits their core clientele, of course), while also providing sufficient signage in English for others.
• The range of specialty stores.  I would expect book stores and video stores in an ethnic mall, but an auto supplies storeand a health food store surprised me.  The New Jersey store even contains its own dental office for those who seek care from dentists who speak their language.  Of course, every culture will have its own unique set of material items that it misses from the mother country.  (What kinds of specialty stores do you think an Israeli mini-mall would want to have?)
• The large grocery.  The ethnic grocery is not a new concept; little grocery stores and tiny restaurants dot the ethnic neighborhoods of every big city in the U.S.  What’s unique here, though, is that this seems to be a full-featured supermarket, with as many aisles as you might find in a ‘regular’ nearby grocery.  This implies that mall customers include “regulars” (who come to do everyday shopping), “tourists” (like me, who seek an exotic experience), and casual clients who occasionally frequent the store.
• Elegant layout and design.  Look at the pictures of the food court in the New Jersey store, for instance – the management clearly took the decor of the mall quite seriously.  In other words, it doesn’t feel as if the Mitsuwa stores are “trying to be like real malls”; they are simply attractive and engaging on their own terms.
• An ‘Epcot’ like sensibility.  The management certainly reaches out to non-Japanese patrons.  Special events, cooking demonstrations, and other presentations of Japanese culture are frequently offered, and advertised in both English and Japanese.  The Chicago store even provides its own e-mail distribution list to keep its customers aware of special events and deals.  The feel of being a customer lies somewhere between going to Epcot, wandering through an Ikea, and browsing an ethnic grocery store.  In other words, it is both a shopping and a learning experience, simultaneously practical and entertaining.
• Convenient hours.  These stores are open every day of the year (I guess working on holidays doesn’t bother the Japanese too much).  Of course, this “always open” schedule wouldn’t work for an Israeli mini-mall (unless we hired some Japanese staff to run it for us on Shabbat and chagim). 
• Big box form factor.  I am impressed how Mitsuwa was able to create a “mall feel” using the same type of physical space that a large Target or WalMart store might use.  In other words, this is not really a mall – it would be more properly classified as a “big box retailer” – but the experience of wandering around the mall is far more enjoyable than what you would have pushing a cart around WalMart.  I am no expert in construction, but I would assume that big box stores like these are relatively inexpensive to construct (cheaper to build than a large JCC, for example?).