On October 25, a "pallet store" that handles products with translations opened in the warehouse of Hirosaki's wholesaler "Tsugaruya" (Suehiro, Hirosaki City, TEL 0172-88-7157 ).

The company handles products such as beverages, processed foods, and confectionery from about 2,000 manufacturers nationwide, and has many transactions outside the prefecture. Actively tackling the food loss problem, it joined the "Mottainai Food Center in Japan" in 2019 (Heisei 31).

After receiving a consultation from a trading company in Hokkaido and Sapporo, we started unmanned sales of non-standard onions that are discarded without being put on the market on September 16 in front of the company's warehouse. Satoshi Shishido, the president, said, "It was a trial, but people in the area started to buy it, and the topic gathered and the number of products handled increased." Since it became impossible to handle unmanned sales, a sales space was created in the warehouse from October 25, and it opened as a manned sales office.

"Our strength is that we receive cheap and good products because we constantly obtain product information from business partners nationwide, such as products that are about to expire or cannot be distributed," says Shishido. "It's been almost 20 years since I started working in the wholesale business, and I wanted to challenge the retail business," he said.

Many of the products we handle are discounted to half the price or less, and non-standard vegetables and fruits are also lined up. Mr. Shishido smiles, "Many customers buy with half-belief, and at a later date, they become repeaters and buy in bulk. It makes me happy to see people who are happy to shop."

"My future goal is to be able to handle fresh fish and meat," says Shishido. "Originally, I started with the idea of reducing the problem of food loss. I hope I can eliminate" mottainai "even a little."

Business hours are from 9:00 to 17:00. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.