Fugetsu Japanese Market & Goods has settled into a roughly 1,600-square-foot shop at 3409 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, giving the Osaka-born brand a third South Bay foothold after its takeout counter on Moorpark Avenue in San Jose and its okonomiyaki kitchen inside Rokko in Sunnyvale. Westsiders who already duck into the Suite 20 shop at 4342 Moorpark Avenue for boxed lunches now have a second grab-and-go stop a short drive north. The Santa Clara store soft-opened in March, then spent weeks selling only snacks and collectibles while the city sorted a permit issue. Fresh bento, onigiri, sushi, and desserts returned in mid-July, and the shop has kept daily hours around 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The new room sits in Nobili Plaza, a Biagini Properties strip with frontage on El Camino Real and parking right at the door. Mapo BBQ already shares the center, and ChaHalo tea, jeweler Joyalukkas, and Indo-Chinese restaurant Garam Mirchi have posted coming-soon signs. Inside Fugetsu, the mix feels less like a full supermarket and more like a Japanese department-store food hall shrunk to neighborhood size: premade plates from local kitchens, packaged snacks and drinks, plus shelves of anime goods, toys, and trading cards. That hybrid grew out of a pandemic rewrite. The company had planned a traditional sit-down restaurant for its second U.S. site, then rebuilt the idea around takeout meals and packaged favorites once dining rooms shut down.
The Santa Clara opening arrives in the middle of a wider South Bay run of Japanese market concepts. In April, restaurateur Lily Peng and the Taro San team opened Yutori at 3375 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, taking over the old Corner Bakery Cafe with matcha and coffee drinks, house-made pastries, and a convenience-store aisle of imported snacks, produce, and bento. Farther south, Downtown San Jose finally got a true grocer again when Sakura Market opened at 184 South Market Street, next to Spartan Village on the Paseo. The Osaka Marketplace team filled a long-empty storefront with imported groceries, cosmetics, a matcha counter, a self-serve ramen station, a sushi buffet sold by weight, and plans for a sake and beer bar.
That Downtown location matters as much as the food. San Jose’s core lost its last conventional grocery when Safeway closed in 2019, and residents, hotel guests, and SJSU students had to leave the neighborhood for everyday staples. Sakura will not replace a full supermarket, but it puts rice balls, sashimi, snacks, and household goods within walking distance of the Signia hotel and the Paseo. Pair that with Fugetsu’s existing West San Jose market and the brand’s Sunnyvale dining room, and the city now sits inside a tighter web of Japanese retail instead of watching it collect only on the Peninsula.
A grand opening stretch at the Santa Clara Fugetsu runs Friday, September 5 through Monday, September 7, with samples and giveaways. After that, keep both local addresses in the rotation: 4342 Moorpark Avenue in San Jose for a quick Westside pickup, and 3409 El Camino Real when the drive up El Camino makes more sense. Downtown shoppers can walk into Sakura at 184 South Market Street, Suite 120, most days from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal
