Celebrating 100 years in business

This Saturday, the Takahashi Market will celebrate 100 years of business with a party at its store in San Mateo. Takahashi plans to attend but the event, like the store, will be managed by his son, Gene Takahashi. The event is sponsored by the Japanese American Civilian League of San Mateo and is expected to attracted hundreds of local customers from the Peninsula.

In a time when family-owned businesses are pushed out by big box retailers, Takahashi Market continues to attract new customers by offering hard to find Japanese and Hawaiian specialties such as thin-sliced rib eye beef for sukiyaki, lau lau, poi and kalua pork. It serves up fresh sashimi grade ahi tuna daily and stocks hard to find Japanese produce. It’s one of the only places on the Peninsula where people can purchase fresh poi.

"I love the variety of food and I love the people. 100 years is impressive, not every place makes it that long,” said customer Kathy Kobara, a Foster City resident with a sister who lives in Hawaii.

The quaint store in the heart of San Mateo — on Claremont Street at Third Avenue — has a long history.

Tokutaro Takahashi was a Japanese immigrant who worked in the Leslie salt ponds in Redwood City when he decided to open a general merchandise store to cater to the growing Japanese American population in San Mateo. It started as a horse and buggy operation with Takahashi often traveling two or three days to make deliveries to residents in Pescadero. Soon after, he rented a building on the corner of First Avenue and Claremont Street. Later the store moved to closer to Third Avenue and in the 1969, the store settled at the location where it still stands today.

Takahashi Market has continuously served the community except for three years in the 1940s when it was closed during World War II and the Japanese internment. Kenge Takahashi, a graduate of San Mateo High School, was transferred with his parents to Tanforan race track in San Bruno. There, thousands of Japanese Americans were interned and forced to sleep in horse stalls before being transferred to permanent camps throughout the United States. Many from Tanforan went to Topaz Camp in Utah. Kenge Takahashi enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the segregated 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team until the conclusion of the war.

He returned home to help re-open the market and took over management when his father died a short while later.

In the 1950s, the store sold a lot of fish and tackle to Japanese American fisherman. By the 1960s, the store introduced Hawaiian specialties to serve the growing number of people moving from the state to work at the San Francisco International Airport.

As a child, Gene Takahashi remembers his first job at the store as "sweeping the floor and watching the winos.” He’d alert his dad if anyone tried to steal something from the shelves, he said.

After a few years at college, majoring in math, the third generation Takahashi found himself back at the store. Now he spends every day there with two faithful full-time employees. His wife, a San Bruno elementary school teacher, occasionally pitches in. His son, 18, works at the store while attending classes at College of San Mateo. Takahashi doesn’t know if his son will carry on with the store, but he’s happy it’s come this far.

"It’s really hard to believe it’s been 100 years,” Gene Takahashi said.

The elder Takahashi doesn’t find it so hard to believe. Even when his son wasn’t sure he’d come back to manage the store, Kenge Takahashi knew in his heart what the future held.

"I always thought he would,” said Kenge Takahashi.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.

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Takahashi Market will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary on September 30 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the store's parking lot, located at 221 S. Claremont St., San Mateo. Entertainment and food will be provided.<