ISHIYA's gift confectionery line ISHIYA G opens its first Kyoto shop, with a Uji matcha exclusive, at Daimaru Kyoto
ISHIYA, the Hokkaido confectioner behind Shiroi Koibito, has brought its gift-focused ISHIYA G line to Daimaru Kyoto's basement food hall for the brand's first Kyoto shop, anchored by a matcha confection made with a local pastry chef.
Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores said ISHIYA's gift confectionery line ISHIYA G opened its first Kyoto shop on the basement confectionery floor of Daimaru Kyoto on October 1, according to a release dated September 30.
The shop's Kyoto-exclusive item is Aigato, a five-piece box priced at ¥2,073, developed with TREEE'S KYOTO pastry chef Shimosuke Kimura: a confection made with premium Uji matcha blended into the dough and paired with chocolate chosen, Daimaru said, to bring out the matcha's bitterness.
I look forward to delivering the new matcha charm unique to ISHIYA to more customers.
Kimura said, according to the release. ISHIYA G describes its "G" as standing for Gift, Grace and Ginza — the Tokyo district where the sub-brand began — and builds its packaging around Hokkaido-themed, nature-inspired motifs. Daimaru is also offering a free three-piece set of ISHIYA's Saqu langue de chat biscuits to the first 50 customers spending ¥3,000 or more at the shop between October 1 and 7.
A basement food-hall opening is a small event on paper, but the detail worth watching is the city-exclusive product, not the shop itself. ISHIYA built its name in Hokkaido and expanded nationally largely on Shiroi Koibito as a travel souvenir; landing a gift sub-brand on Kyoto's most-watched department-store food floor, with a Uji matcha item made specifically for that city, is ISHIYA competing on Kyoto's own ingredient and gifting terms rather than importing a Hokkaido product wholesale. It is the template regional confectioners increasingly use to earn permanent floor space in a rival region's flagship store: a local collaboration, rather than just a shelf of the brand's existing lineup.