It was decided that Starbucks Coffee Japan (Tokyo) will open a store next year at the "Former Eighth Division Commander's Office", a nationally registered tangible cultural property on the site of Hirosaki City Hall.

The Former Eighth Division Chief Government Office was designed in 1917 (Taisho 6) by Hikosaburo Horie, the eldest son of Sakichi Horie, a carpenter who worked on many Western-style architecture mainly in Aomori Prefecture. After the end of the war, it was used as a commander's dormitory where the US troops stayed, and in 1951 (Showa 26) it became a property of the city and became the mayor's office. In 1959 (Showa 34), two-thirds of the buildings were dismantled due to the construction of the new city hall, and the building was in its present form.

If Starbucks is decided to open, it will be the fifth store in Aomori Prefecture, and Hirosaki City will open for the first time. There is an example of opening the nationally registered tangible cultural property of the same store at the Kobe Kitano Ijinkan store in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, but there are initiatives such as “City of coffee Hirosaki” and “Apple cafe tour”. There are various opinions about the opening of a popular chain store in the city, where the cafe culture is rooted.

A female office worker in her 20s says, "There are many coffee shops and cafes in Hirosaki City, but there are few shops that are open until late. It would be nice if it could be a place where you can come back after work." A woman in her 30s, who is self-employed, said, "I'm happy to do what Hirosaki can do because I go to the Elm store in Goshogawara right now." It's already there. If possible, it would have been better to have a restaurant where you could eat. " A man in his 60s said, "I'm worried that the coffee shop I'm working on locally will survive."

The “Hirosaki Charm Producing Office,” which is in charge of the business in the city, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2015, and an agreement will be exchanged within the year.