"Kinokuniya Bookstore Hirosaki Store" in Dote-cho, Hirosaki City closed on May 6th.

Kinokuniya Bookstore is a chain bookstore that operates at 71 stores nationwide and has opened overseas. The Hirosaki store opened in 1983. The sales floor area is 372 tsubo. It was the first Kinokuniya bookstore in Tohoku, earlier than Sendai.

Closure announced on March 26. The notice was posted on the homepage and posted as "Notice of closing". Ms. Miko Arima, the store manager, said, “There were some people who visited our stores, especially regular customers, after they announced that they were closed. The number increased even more after Golden Week, and on the day of the closing, the usual There were three times as many visits.”

At 19:00, the closing time, about 40 customers who missed the closing of the store gathered and saw the last business. After finishing the business, Mr. Arima greeted, "I want it to be a bookstore that will remain in your memory for a long time," and applauded naturally when you bowed deeply to the employees lined up in front of the entrance.

The entertainer Shisonne Jiro, who was from Hirosaki and has held a book autograph session, told Tsugaru dialect on Twitter that “Go to Kinokuniya in Hirosaki instead of mine. , And continued to post, "I'm glad I did the event before it disappeared. Thank you Kinokuniya." (Mom original text).

A 40-year-old male from Hokkaido recalls, "I came to Hirosaki when I entered university, but I felt that the Kinokuniya bookstore was in Hirosaki. A woman in her twenties said, “I bought all the high school reference books at the same store. I once bought a book and read it at a coffee shop in Dote-cho, but recently I've stopped going. "I'm sad."

A woman in her 50s said, "I rarely buy online, but if I buy a book, I will go to a shopping mall with a parking lot. In the future, it is expected that not only bookstores but more stores will be closed in rural areas. We need to think about how to consume, not just convenience."