Osaka Marketplace Signs Lease in Foster City

A Foster City shopping center is gearing up to welcome a new grocery tenant from Japan.

Japanese grocer Osaka Marketplace has signed a 35,000-square-foot lease at Edgewater Place Shopping Center, JLL announced. The 123,000-square-foot retail center is located on Central Lake in the Peninsula city.

The new outpost will be Osaka Marketplace’s third location in the Bay Area after opening a Fremont location — the East Bay’s first Japanese supermarket that opened in 2021 — and a shop in Pleasant Hill set to open soon. Osaka’s Foster City store will occupy the former Lucky supermarket location at 919 Edgewater Boulevard.

Osaka is expected to complete renovations prior to opening the Foster City location in November.

“We’re thrilled to join the Foster City community and bring our authentic Japanese grocery experience to Edgewater Place,” Kazuhiro Takeda, owner of Osaka Marketplace, said in a statement provided to The Real Deal. “From fresh produce and seafood to prepared meals and pantry staples, we’re looking forward to serving the community and celebrating the tastes and traditions of the neighborhood we now call home.”

Edgewater Place is in the midst of a multiphase capital improvement program that has recently implemented upgrades like a repaved and restriped parking lot, new landscaping, improved lighting, updated signage and a renovated common area including expanded outdoor spaces.

Speciality Asian grocery stores have grown in popularity and in number in the Bay Area in recent years.

Canada-based Asian grocery chain T&T Supermarket, for example, announced forthcoming locations in San Jose’s Westgate Center and San Francisco’s City Center, as well as Southern California stores in Irvine and Chino Hills.

Bay Area shoppers looking for some spice can also get their pick of Korean products at Jagalchi in Daly City’s Serramonte Center and Chinese wares at Mei Mei Chinese Market in Castro Valley. Japanese chain Tokyo Central is slated to open in Emeryville this year, and H Mart, the ubiquitous Asian supermarket with outposts across the United States, is set to open a location at Dublin Retail Center in the East Bay early next year.