On June 24th, the collaborative learning space "HLS Hirosaki" (Hirosaki-shi, Dote-cho) held a career event through online, "I decided to close all the stores and liquidate the company-business closure is not a failure".

"HLS Hirosaki" develops charter event business and rental space business based on the concept of "learning together (co-learning) across regions and generations". Currently, he is mainly doing online events due to the influence of the new coronavirus.

The event's guest is Toshikazu Fukui, former president of “Ilomore”. Mr. Fukui opened a cafe "cafe202" in Aomori, opened two stores in "Sakurano Department Store Hirosaki store", and also expanded to Sendai, and managed up to 5 stores, but in this new corona bruise May Went out of business.

According to Mr. Fukui, it will be closed from April 11, and the store will be closed in late April. “It wasn't decided right away. Considering secondary damage to family members, employees, and business partners, we decided to close the business while the money remained,” Fukui said. When I posted a blog titled "I decided to close all the stores and liquidate the company" on May 8, I recorded about 1.4 million page views in two days and received national attention.

About 100 people participated on the day of the event. There were participants not only from Aomori, but also from Kagoshima and Niigata, and there were not only students but also adults. At the event, Mr. Fukui explained how he went out of business, and then accepted questions from the participants via chat.

In response to the question from the participants, "Are there any options other than closing the store?", Mr. Fukui said, "Although there were options such as reduced sales and online mail order, I could not see the convergence of the new corona infection spread, I decided. I thought about the risk of procrastination."

Mr. Fukui says, “I'm no longer asking where I work, online is a matter of course. I can now work in Tokyo even in rural areas. I thought about who I wanted to be, rather than what I wanted to do. I want to do something to give back to those who have supported me."

To students, Mr. Fukui said, “The image of a career is not like climbing stairs, but climbing a winding mountain road. It is important to think about five or ten years from now, but many unexpected accidents happen. On the other hand, it is important to seriously think about what you want to do next."