A Japanese Grocery Store and Deli Will Come to Coolidge Corner

A Japanese grocery store and deli based in West Hartford, Connecticut, is opening an outpost in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner. Maruichi Japanese Food and Deli will set up shop in the space left vacant by Japanese tea house Gen Sou En (299 Harvard St.), which closed earlier this year after about a year and a half in business.

Maruichi also operates an outpost in Scarsdale, New York. The Connecticut and New York locations of Maruichi offer a mix of Japanese groceries — Kewpie mayo, enoki mushrooms, and packaged noodles such as ramen and yakisoba, for example — and prepared foods, such as ramen, sushi, bento boxes, and bubble tea, according to their respective Facebook pages.

An employee at the West Hartford location confirmed with Eater that Maruichi plans to open in Brookline but couldn’t offer any specific details regarding an opening timeline or how similar the products and menu will be to the existing locations.

While Gen Sou En’s June 2019 closure left a bit of a hole in Coolidge Corner’s Japanese food scene, there are a few other options nearby, including acclaimed ramen shop Ganko Ittetsu, which is located in the Arcade building, almost across the street from the forthcoming Maruichi space, and Ganko’s brand new sibling and neighbor, Gantetsu-ya, which serves Japanese street food, like takoyaki.

Gen Sou En Tea House featured a stunning design and a mix of cafe service and seated meals, serving items like bento boxes, katsu sandwiches, sushi, and more, as well as sake — and, of course, tea, as it was connected to a century-old Japanese tea company, Harada Tea & Foods, Inc.

Stay tuned for further details on Maruichi’s arrival in Brookline.

• Japanese Grocery and Deli to Open in Brookline’s Former Gen Sou En Location [BTAB]
• Brookline’s New Tea House Will Be a Matcha Paradise [EBOS]