1921 (Taisho 10) Tuesday, November 1 Today is the opening day of nationwide liquor store “Kaku-Yasu” in Japan. The founder of the store is Yasuzo Sato. First store was opened 100 years ago today in Toshima Ward, Tokyo. The name “Kaku-Yasu” is a combination of Kaku and Yasu. Kaku means Kaku-Masu, which is the name of a Japanese-Style wooden cup for drinking sake. Yasu means the founder Yasuzou.
“Kakuyasu” has long been a small local sake shop, but under the leadership of its third generation president Junichi Sato, the company achieved rapid growth in the late 1990s by shifting its business strategy from wholesale to home delivery. President Sato may be the actual founder. It has expanded from only 2 stores in 1994 to about 140 stores today. Nowadays, it is famous as a sake shop that delivers 1 bottle for free within 2 hours anywhere in 23 wards.
From the point of view of ordinary consumers, Kakuyasu is often used for home delivery, but in fact, the commercial alcohol wholesaler is known to be more powerful. Currently, the ratio of home use and business use is 3: 7, and business use is more common. The Company was listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2019. The timing was exquisite in a way.
Because the spread of coronavirus spread right after the listing. The other day, Kakuyasu struggled due to the spread of the coronavirus. In May of this year, ITOCHU raised 2.2 billion yen by issuing new shares through a three-party allocation of 2.2 billion yen to major food wholesalers Itochu-Shokuhin and Mitsubishi Shokuhin. But now, the lifting of the state of emergency has helped to boost stock prices significantly since last month. The stock price was around 1500 yen in May this year when the capital reinforcement was carried out, and it is around 2000 yen now.
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