It’s hard to fathom: The cavernous Asian grocery and specialty store, which today has 25,000 product SKUs and attracts shoppers from all over Seattle and beyond, started out in 1928 as one Japanese man selling fish cakes from the back of a truck in Tacoma. Founder Fujimatsu Moriguchi, who emigrated from Ehime prefecture in Japan, was an astute businessman who identified a need among the Japanese laborers working in logging camps and on the railroad, largely young male bachelors who didn’t have access to the food they liked. So he cooked up fish cakes with rice and soy sauce and drove them to the workers, making him perhaps the original food truck owner.

A few years later, he leased a small storefront in Tacoma. But after World War II broke out, the Moriguchi family was sent to a Japanese internment camp in California. After being released, Fujimatsu relocated to Seattle and opened the city’s first Uwajimaya store at 422 Main St in 1945, in what was then called Japan Town and is now known as the Chinatown-International District. The store was small, says granddaughter and current CEO Denise Moriguchi. “He sold mostly canned goods and grocery items from Japan, rice, and some prepared foods like fish cakes to the Japanese people in the area.” But when the World’s Fair came to Seattle in 1962, Fujimatsu saw an awesome opportunity. “My grandfather had the vision to go to the World’s Fair, to sell items to customers beyond just Japanese. He had a booth and sold chopsticks, Japanese bowls, and crackers. It was the first time some of these people had seen this stuff, mostly gift-y items, and it was received well.” Today, the store is sought out for its housewares, cookware, cosmetics, and novelty items as much as it is for groceries.

Eventually, Fujimatsu would buy the property next to 422 Main and knock down the walls to expand his store. By 1970, they would buy an even larger space at 6th Avenue South and South King Street, where they stayed until they moved to their current spot at 6th and Dearborn.

Denise’s father, who’s still living, ran the stores with his siblings from the 1960s to 2007 and was very active in the community. “It was important to him that the International District thrive,” she says. Along with her brother and 19 cousins, Denise recalls helping out in the stores. “We’d bag groceries or gift-wrap at Christmas, run carts to the parking lot.” She also has fond memories of her grandmother working in the on-site kitchen, turning out traditional Japanese comfort food like noodles and rice with chicken.

As for their transition from selling Japanese grocery staples to nearly every Asian food under the sun, Denise says that it was a natural expansion. “Even though our family’s roots are in Japan, we were pretty pan-Asian.” And while the focus of Uwajimaya is still on Japanese food, they try their best to include other Asian products to best serve their customers. When asked what the clientele like best, she cites their live seafood tanks, Japanese snacks (like Pocky sticks), and grab-and-go foods, including sushi. “My aunt swears we were the first grocery store to offer packaged sushi.” And the attached food court? Her dad’s brain child. “When we built the new store, my father wanted to create a more unique experience. He wanted to make it worth your trip down.”

Based on the store’s incredible business, it’s pretty clear his vision was realized.

Uwajimaya Timeline:

1928 – Fujimatsu Moriguchi starts Uwajimaya by selling fish cakes and other specialty Japanese food products from his truck to laborers in Tacoma.

1942 – Amid World War II, the Moriguchi family is sent to the Tule Lake internment camp in Northern California.

1945 – The Moriguchis relocate to Seattle and open the first Uwajimaya store, located at 422 S Main St in the heart of “Japan Town.”

1950 –  The store begins selling sushi.

1962 – Uwajimaya participates in the Seattle World’s Fair, introducing Japanese products and delicacies to new, non-Japanese customers.

1968 – Uwajimaya opens their second location, inside Southcenter Mall in Tukwila (July 1968–January 1990).

1970 – Uwajimaya Seattle moves to larger storefront at 6th Avenue South and South King Street.

1977 – They begin selling Hello Kitty and Sanrio items.

1978 – Uwajimaya Bellevue opens in the Crossroads area.

1995 – The first dragon is put up in the old Bellevue store.

1998 – Uwajimaya opens in Beaverton, OR.

2000 – Uwajimaya Village opens as the new Seattle flagship store at 6th Avenue South and South Dearborn Street.

2009 – Uwajimaya Renton opens in the Renton Village Shopping Center.

2011 – Uwajimaya Bellevue moves to a new location just east of downtown Bellevue.

2017 – Offshoot Kai Market Opens in South Lake Union.