SOYORA Imabari Umagoe

SOYORA Imabari Umagoe (そよら今治馬越) is a shopping center located in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, operated under AEON's "Soyora" neighborhood shopping-center brand. The facility opened on 15 November 2024 after a full-building renovation, and it is the first Soyora-branded location in the Chugoku and Shikoku region. Its core store is AEON Style Imabari Umagoe (イオンスタイル今治馬越), a general merchandise store focusing on food, cosmetics, and kids' goods, with food, daily necessities, and cosmetics on the first floor and apparel, household goods, and kids' products on the second floor. The first floor also includes a new AEON pharmacy. The center is composed of specialty stores spanning fashion, dining, and services, with 27 specialty tenants at opening. Notable tenants include Saizeriya (the first in Ehime Prefecture), a combined Daiso, Standard Products, and THREEPY store (the first three-brand combined store in Ehime), The Kids indoor play area, T.G.C. eyeglasses (the first in Imabari), GiGO arcade, Miyawaki Shoten bookstore, FIT365 fitness gym, LAVA hot yoga studio, and a KFC in a separate building across the road. The building is a three-story structure with a total floor area of approximately 27,512 m² and a sales floor area of approximately 13,619 m². Because it was created by renovating an existing store, it does not have the lawn plaza found at many Soyora locations, but an event plaza was added on the third floor. The site has a long retail history. Its predecessor, the second-generation Nichii Imabari store, opened in 1976 and closed on 28 March 1999. The current facility opened as Imabari Saty (今治サティ) on 24 April 1999 near the Imabari Interchange of the Nishiseto Expressway. It was renamed AEON Imabari (イオン今治店) on 1 March 2011 when all Saty stores were converted to the AEON banner. In 2024 it was fully renovated and rebranded as Soyora Imabari Umagoe. The center is accessible by car about two minutes from the Imabari Interchange and by bus from Imabari Station and Imabari Port.

The retail history of the site begins with Nichii Imabari store. The first-generation Nichii Imabari store opened on 22 June 1968 in the back street of the Imabari Ginza shopping arcade as a small apparel supermarket with a sales floor area of about 346 m². In 1976, a second-generation Nichii Imabari store (also called Imabari Shopping Department) opened in a newly built Nakayama Building next to the Imabari Center (later Imabari Takashimaya) in Taisho-machi 1-chome, with a sales floor area of about 7,878 m². In 1989, a plan was announced to open at the former Imabari Takashimaya site, targeting a March 1991 opening, but this did not materialize. The second-generation Nichii Imabari store closed on 28 March 1999, and the operation relocated to the suburbs near the Imabari Interchange of the Nishiseto Expressway, opening as Imabari Saty on 24 April 1999. Just after the closure decision in September 1997, the Imabari Shopping Street Cooperative and the Imabari Chamber of Commerce and Industry submitted a request to Nichii headquarters to keep the store open due to concerns about the decline of the central shopping district, but the store closed. The former site was acquired by Marunaka in 2002, and a food supermarket "Marunaka Imabari Ekimae" opened there in July 2003. After the relocation opening, the store faced intensifying competition and the impact of the bankruptcy of Mycal, which led to vacant sales areas. The store removed walls between the food section and other sections, widened aisles, and renovated, emphasizing local food ingredients and expanding apparel offerings. It reopened on 21 March 2003, extending closing time to 23:00. On 1 March 2011, all operating Saty stores were converted to AEON, and the store was renamed AEON Imabari. On 15 November 2024, the entire building was renovated and reopened as Soyora Imabari Umagoe, the first Soyora-branded store in the Chugoku and Shikoku region. The core store became AEON Style Imabari Umagoe, and 27 specialty stores were introduced, including Ehime-first Saizeriya, a Daiso/Standard Products/THREEPY combined store, The Kids indoor play area, T.G.C. eyeglasses (first in Imabari), and GiGO arcade. Around the time of the renovation, restaurants such as KFC were newly built across the road.

• First-generation Nichii Imabari store opens in the Imabari Ginza shopping arcade back street.

• Second-generation Nichii Imabari store opens in Taisho-machi 1-chome.

• Second-generation Nichii Imabari store closes.

• Imabari Saty opens near the Imabari Interchange.

• Store renovates and reopens, extending closing time to 23:00.

• Renamed AEON Imabari as all Saty stores convert to AEON.

• Full renovation completed; reopens as Soyora Imabari Umagoe, first Soyora in Chugoku and Shikoku.

Neighborhood shopping center under AEON's Soyora banner, offering fashion, dining, and services alongside a core AEON Style GMS.

• AEON Style Imabari Umagoe

  Core general merchandise store focusing on food, cosmetics, and kids' goods; first floor sells food, daily necessities, and cosmetics, second floor sells apparel, household goods, and kids' products.

• AEON Pharmacy

  Newly added pharmacy on the first floor.

• Saizeriya

  Italian restaurant, first in Ehime Prefecture, on the first floor.

• Daiso / Standard Products / THREEPY

  Three-brand combined store, first in Ehime Prefecture, on the second floor.

• The Kids

  Indoor play area on the third floor.

• T.G.C.

  Eyeglasses specialty store, first in Imabari, on the third floor.

• GiGO

  Arcade game center on the third floor.

• Miyawaki Shoten

  Bookstore on the second floor.

• FIT365

  Fitness gym on the third floor.

• LAVA

  Hot yoga studio on the third floor.

• KFC

  Located in a separate building across the road.

1. 1そよら今治馬越 公式ホームページaeon.jp
2. 2そよら今治馬越 - Wikipediaja.wikipedia.org
3. 3SOYORA Imabari Umagoe - Wikidatawikidata.org