tonarie utsunomiya

tonarie utsunomiya (トナリエ宇都宮) is a commercial complex located in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, directly in front of Utsunomiya Station. It is operated by ESCON (formerly Nihon ESCON) under the "tonarie" store brand, whose concept is to stay close to the community and grow together with it. The building is an 11-story structure with one basement level, built of steel-reinforced concrete and steel frame. It houses approximately 50 tenants, including the core store Yodobashi Camera, clothing shops, bookstores, and a cooking studio. The facility's history dates back to 1990, when it opened as Robinson Department Store Utsunomiya, a key tenant of a major redevelopment project around the station's west exit. After Robinson closed in 2003, the building was rebranded as LaLasquare Utsunomiya in 2005 under Mitsui Fudosan. In 2020, ownership and management transferred to Nihon ESCON, and the facility was renamed tonarie Utsunomiya. The complex continues to serve as a daily shopping and leisure destination for local residents, with ongoing plans to enhance its tenant mix and consider long-term rebuilding.

The site of tonarie utsunomiya has a history rooted in the redevelopment of the west exit of Utsunomiya Station. In the 1980s, Utsunomiya City faced the challenge of a city center that was separated from its main station, causing visitors to bypass the station area. With the arrival of the Tohoku Shinkansen in 1982, a redevelopment study group was formed, leading to the "Utsunomiya Station West Exit District Redevelopment Basic Plan" in 1985. The project, the largest in the city's history at 6.6 hectares and over 50 billion yen, aimed to build a department store and a mass merchandiser/specialty store building. The north block, designated for the department store, was developed first. In 1987, Robinson Department Store, affiliated with Ito-Yokado, was selected as the tenant. Construction began in 1988, and the building opened on October 30, 1990, as Robinson Department Store Utsunomiya. It had a sales floor area of 20,000 m2 and aimed for annual sales of 15 billion yen. The store employed strategies such as the "Clover Operation," visiting 100,000 households in the trade area, and introduced POS systems throughout its directly operated floors. It positioned itself as a "casual department store" between a city department store and a general supermarket. Despite initial success, sales peaked in 1994 at 20.7 billion yen and then declined due to competition from suburban shopping centers. After seven consecutive years of operating losses, the store closed on September 30, 2003. The closure sale attracted over 1.2 million visitors. After Robinson's closure, the building's core tenant space remained vacant until Mitsui Fudosan attracted Yodobashi Camera to the 6th and 7th floors. In 2005, the facility reopened as LaLasquare Utsunomiya, operated by LaLaport (now Mitsui Fudosan Commercial Management). It had about 120 tenants, including Yodobashi Camera as the core store, and aimed for sales of 10 billion yen. In 2019, Mitsui Fudosan decided to sell the facility, and in December 2019, Nihon ESCON (now ESCON) acquired it. The facility was renamed tonarie Utsunomiya and reopened on February 1, 2020. The tonarie brand concept is to stay close to the community. The reopening involved only a name change, with plans to enhance tenants after three years and consider rebuilding in the long term. In 2022, several restaurants closed, and in 2023, a Yaoko supermarket opened on the basement floor. The facility continues to evolve as a community shopping center.

• Opened as Robinson Department Store Utsunomiya

• Closed as Robinson Department Store Utsunomiya

• Opened as LaLasquare Utsunomiya

• Closed as LaLasquare Utsunomiya

• Reopened as tonarie Utsunomiya

• Yaoko supermarket opened on B1

A community-oriented shopping center targeting daily needs of local residents, positioned as a successor to previous department store and shopping center formats.

Product categories. clothing · books · electronics · cooking classes · restaurants · services

1. 1トナリエ宇都宮tonarie.jp
2. 2トナリエ宇都宮 - Wikipediaja.wikipedia.org
3. 3tonarie utsunomiya - Wikidatawikidata.org