Emeryville will welcome its first new grocery store in more than three decades today, as Tokyo Central opens its doors to a highly anticipated crowd of residents, shoppers, and media. The long countdown to the Japanese specialty market’s grand opening began a year and a half ago, when Bay Street announced Tokyo Central as a new tenant.

The path up to this point has seen plenty of twists and turns that folks who are new to the city may be unaware of or longtime residents may have forgotten about.

A Brief History of Emeryville Markets

Emeryville’s first market was likely Stoer’s block on the corner of San Pablo Ave and Adeline which opened in 1878. The first branded market was a Piggly Wiggly which opened in the still standing Stoer building on San Pablo Avenue in 1925.

This later became a “Safeway Economy Market” before moving to a larger space in North Oakland in the early 1940s.

For a long time, residents bought most of their goods at local family-run corner stores that sold essentials like baked goods, dairy, canned goods and generally had a meat counter. Larger, weekly shopping trips were at the nearby Safeway on San Pablo Ave or later at a larger location on Telegraph.

Next came Piedmont Grocery and Market—later known as Watergate Market and now Randy’s Market—which opened in 1972, primarily serving Emeryville’s large, younger Watergate population. Its arrival stirred resentment among residents in eastern Emeryville, many of whom were lower-income and felt excluded from the city’s redevelopment boom. Calls for a neighborhood grocery store in that part of the city soon grew louder.

Trader Joe’s opened at the Powell Street Plaza in 1994 followed by a Pak ‘n Save at the East Bay Shopping Center later that same year. The traffic generated by Trader Joe’s was dubbed “A Nightmare on Powell Street” in one local publication.

In the mid-80s, Costco briefly considered opening a location in Emeryville along Christie Ave between 64th & 65th Streets but there was so much anti-development blowback following the completion of the Pacific Park Plaza tower that they quickly backed out and pursued their Richmond location instead.

The mostly forgotten Andronico’s Central Market, a smaller footprint catering to Emeryville’s large workforce, that operated at the former Clif Bar space on Hollis from 2000 to 2004.

Berkeley Bowl West opened in 2009 just 4 blocks outside of Emeryville’s border and has helped transform the area of West Berkeley and northern Emeryville.

Target opened in 2011 at a space originally occupied by a KMart and has expanded their grocery offerings over the years but is generally considered a “general merchandise retailer” and does not primarily focus on food.

Central Emeryville was slated for a huge transformation when New Seasons Market was announced as a tenant at the renovated Public Market in 2015. The grocery store was so close to opening that they literally had grocery carts lined up in the corals when the chain abruptly pulled the plug on this and other new locations.

Subsequent efforts to fill the space with another grocer failed and the space was eventually taken over by Upside Foods in 2021. This ordeal may have made residents a bit cynical of new any new grocery store announcements.

CenterCal Leads Impressive Bay Street Comeback

It might be hard to imagine now, but Bay Street was in dire straights just five years ago when they were acquired by CenterCal Properties amid the pandemic.

They immediately undertook a massive revitalization project including an unnamed “anchor” grocery store. During the time of construction, CenterCal was able to refill the dining area with tenants pushing occupancy from a low of 30%, to nearly full occupancy.

Despite some “setbacks,” CenterCal’s vision was rapidly moving along until a slowdown in progress at the grocery space caused people to begin questioning if the tenant they has lined up had backed out (presumed to be an Amazon Fresh who backed out of other locations). It felt like Deja Vu for residents whose memory of the New Seasons fiasco was still fresh. This threatened to derail Bay Streets transformation.

Nine months later, Tokyo Central stepped in and generated an incredible buzz by locals, It might in fact be a better outcome than a Amazon Fresh who would likely sell things that can be bought anywhere. Amazon Fresh recently announced they were closing their remaining U.S. locations to focus on grocery delivery.

Will Tokyo Central Thrive?

It’s clear that the excitement over Tokyo Central is off the charts. But can the notorious low margin business be sustained long-term? Can Emeryville and the region’s demographics support a Japanese grocery store?

The right grocery store can not only anchor a shopping center, it can anchor a neighborhood as Berkeley Bowl West has shown. It’s an anchor for other businesses and a draw for future development.

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That said, the store will be operating in one of the most competitive grocery markets in the country, where price sensitivity, traffic patterns, and sustained novelty all matter; long-term success will depend on whether Tokyo Central can consistently function as a regional destination rather than relying on neighborhood-level demographic support alone.

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Hundreds Turn Out for Weekend’s Grand Opening

Thousands turned out Saturday for the grand opening, a turnout that easily rivaled the opening of IKEA 25 years ago. An estimated 700 people were lined up before the doors opened, with lines snaking around the plaza into the parking garage and waits stretching up to two hours. Surrounding streets were reportedly gridlocked at times, prompting Emeryville police to implement traffic control measures.

First in line was Oakland resident Ryan Ly-Burbridge, who arrived shortly after midnight and slept in a chair while bundled in a sweatshirt and beanie.

Prior to the ribbon Cutting, opening remarks were made by 2026 Emeryville Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur, Marukai Corp. President Koichi Toyo and consul general of Japan in San Francisco Kotaro Otsuka.

Performances included Japanese dance troupe Uzumaru (“Whirlpool”), who blend traditional movements with modern music, and a taiko drumming performance by Emeryville Taiko.

Customer estimates put Saturday attendance between 8,000 and 8,500, with Sunday drawing an additional 6,500 to 7,000 visitors.

The Emeryville location is the twelfth in California and only the second in the Bay Area following the Cupertino location. The grocer has not announced in other Bay Area locations.