Two Tokyo sweets brands test Kansai with back-to-back department-store pop-ups
A Tokyo melting-sweets shop and a Tokyo pistachio-dessert specialist are both opening their first Kansai pop-ups from November 11, one at Hankyu Umeda Main Store in Osaka and the other at JR Kyoto Isetan -- the kind of short-run department-store test that lets a small food brand read Kansai demand before committing to anything longer.
Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, Inc. said FONDAN (フォンダン), a Tokyo specialty shop for melting sweets built around house-made fresh butter from pasture-raised cows' milk, will run its first Kansai pop-up at Hankyu Umeda Main Store (阪急うめだ本店) in Osaka, on the basement floor's Tree Terrace 1 (ツリーテラス1) event space, from November 11 to 18, according to a November 4 release.
On sale are the brand's signature FONDAN Sand (フォンダンサンド), a fresh-butter-caramel-filled wafer sold in boxes of 5 (¥1,350), 10 (¥2,646) and 18 (¥4,763); a FONDAN Galette (フォンダンガレット) four-pack at ¥1,458, limited to five boxes per customer; and a new winter-only FONDAN Chocolat Sand (フォンダンショコラサンド), a six-piece fresh-chocolate version at ¥2,160, limited to three boxes per customer.
Separately, KCC Co., Ltd. (株式会社ケイシイシイ), which operates the Tokyo pistachio-dessert brand PISTA & TOKYO out of two stores in the capital, said it will run a two-week pop-up at JR Kyoto Isetan (JR京都伊勢丹), in the basement floor's east-entrance promotional space, from November 11 to 24, according to its own November 4 release. The brand's best-selling Pistachio Sandwich (ピスタチオサンド) -- a pistachio langue-de-chat cookie layered with pistachio chocolate -- sells in five-piece boxes at ¥1,350 in two flavours, or as a ten-piece mixed assortment at ¥2,484; a seasonal Pistene (ピステーヌ) sponge cake, five pieces at ¥1,728, and a limited-quantity Sable Sandwich Pistache (サブレサンドピスターシュ), three pieces at ¥1,728, round out the line-up.
Both debuts land in the same week, in the same basement-floor pop-up format, from brands with only a handful of home stores between them -- FONDAN gives no store count, PISTA & TOKYO has two, both in Tokyo. That is the point of the format: a short, low-cost run on someone else's floor lets a small specialty-food brand read whether Kansai shoppers will pay Tokyo prices for a Tokyo product before it has to sign a longer lease or build out a Kansai-specific operation. Whether either pop-up becomes a standing Kansai presence isn't addressed in either release.