After 100 years, a Northwest symbol of Japanese culture returns to Tacoma

In 1928, Uwajimaya founders Fujimatsu and Sadako Moriguchi opened their first Japanese grocery store in Tacoma. Now, the company their granddaughter runs is returning to the city where Uwajimaya got its start. Plans are in the works to open a new Tacoma store in 2027.

The expansion hits home for CEO Denise Moriguchi, whose grandparents were forced from their business and home during World War II and held at the Tule Lake incarceration camp in California.

“The Tacoma location really raised emotions I didn’t realize were there,” Moriguchi said. “A lot of people know that we were there, and we have roots in the history [and know] how we were forced to leave, and we’re coming back. So, I think it’s also a great story of resilience.”

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Uwajimaya’s planned return to Tacoma was first reported by Puget Sound Business Journal reporter Shawna De La Rosa, whose grandfather Godwin “Goodie” Rorem ran a lawnmower sales and repairs business near the original Uwajimaya.

De La Rosa said her grandfather worked with a lot of people of Japanese ancestry, many of whom ran landscaping businesses in the Tacoma area 100 years ago. When Japanese Americans were taken from their businesses and homes, Rorem helped them hold on to the lives they had built, De La Rosa said.

“He protected a lot of the property and assets of his customers because they were also his friends,” De La Rosa said. “So, for me personally, the fact that they are coming back now to their original city is especially poignant.”

When the Moriguchis were released from the incarceration camp, they returned to the Northwest, but relocated to what was then called “Japan Town” in Seattle, which is now part of the Chinatown-International District (CID). Denise Moriguchi said she would like to find a way to recreate the spirit of the Japanese community and culture that existed in Tacoma before WWII.

“I saw a map recently of Japan town in Tacoma from the 1920s and I was just blown away at how vibrant it was,” Moriguchi said. “There were barber shops and theaters and restaurants and hotels and bath houses, and it was a bustling, exciting, vibrant area.”

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The proposed Tacoma outlet will occupy the former Hobby Lobby space near Target at Tacoma Central.

Moriguchi said the size of the location — at more than 6,000 square feet — allows her to design a new location that, like the Seattle store, is more than just a grocery.

She said the new location will follow a “village concept” that includes other tenants, as well as common areas where people can sit together and share a meal. She also hopes to help foster mom and pop stores who are starting their first business, just like her grandparents did when they opened their first brick-and-mortar store in Tacoma.

“It’s really an opportunity for use to be part of the community and that’s what they did 100 years ago,” Moriguchi said. “So, in that sense, we will be honoring their legacy.”

In addition to the Tacoma location, Uwajimaya is planning to expand to Issaquah, which will give the company a total of six stores in the Northwest, including locations in Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, and Beaverton, Oregon.

Both the Issaquah and Tacoma locations are scheduled to open in 2027.

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