まめぞう
When you exit the north ticket gate of Osaki Station and go down the stairs at the west exit, you will immediately see a pedestrian crossing, and on the other side is the New Osaki shopping street with a seasoned atmosphere. As soon as you push open the heavy glass door and enter, you will find several shops on the first and second floors, all of them with a significant amount of history. Across from Famima is Pasco New Osaki. The website of the Osaki Nishi Station West Exit Shopping District introduces the store: http://osakinishi.net/store01 "We have been running a freshly baked bakery in this New Osaki Building in front of Osaki West Exit Station for 30 years." The article includes a photo of the owner. When you actually visit the store, you will see that the owner is a bit more robust. Looking at the news list, "On February 3rd (Friday), it's the monthly SALE. This time, it's the Chocolate Fair." http://osakinishi.net/news/n-store01 February 3rd of this year falls on a Thursday. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the article is from 2012. It seems that this website has not been updated for the past 10 years. This would mean that the establishment dates back to 40 years ago, around 1982. It was around 1969 when Shikishima Pan, also known as Pasco, expanded into the Kanto region. Around 1980, they began their overseas expansion. When I was a child living in Kansai, every town had Kobe-ya Pan and Shikishima Pan. This was before terms like "boulangerie" were well-known. In Tokyo, there was no Shikishima Pan, which surprised me until I learned that Shikishima Pan was actually Pasco. On the other hand, Kobe-ya expanded into the Kanto region in 1982, presenting a high-end image by opening restaurants and takeout specialty stores in upscale residential areas near Seijo. Both companies aimed to dispel the image of mom-and-pop stores from Kansai upon their expansion. Pasco New Osaki sources bread and dough from Shikishima Pan and bakes bread and makes sandwich bread in this location for sale. However, confusion arises due to the store being named Pasco. Some people may think it is a direct store of Shikishima Pan or a store that sells Shikishima Pan products as is. To be sure, when I inquired with Shikishima Pan's customer service, they mentioned that the old mom-and-pop stores were affiliated stores like National or Toshiba's electronics stores, but they no longer exist today since supermarkets now fulfill that role. Direct stores are rare, such as Real Pasco Bakeries under brands like PAUL, Fochon, Paul Bocuse, and Peck, which are distributed in department stores, station buildings, and supermarkets. Pasco New Osaki is confirmed to be an individual store permitted to use the logo. Although it was stated that they are open on Saturdays, when I went there, there was no sign of them opening. So I called, and the owner answered the phone, explaining that they stopped opening on Saturdays due to the decrease in customers from increased remote work during the pandemic. I visited on a weekday morning. The New Osaki Building has a peculiar structure. There is a passage that goes east to west, with a brick-colored wall on the east side and a white wall on the west side that looks like an apartment building. It wasn't until I went up to the second floor of the adjacent thinkpark building and looked south that I realized the peculiar structure of a commercial building with a brick-colored wall on the east side and a white apartment building on the west side. In the back of the store, the owner was diligently making bread, and I purchased a Gratin & Egg Sandwich for 281 yen and paid with my transportation IC card at the counter. There was a job recruitment notice for Cafe de Liberté next to the showcase. I later found out that they supply bread to the flower shop cafe, Le Millefeuille de Liberté, on the second floor of the adjacent thinkpark building. Now, I'm sitting on a bench near the station enjoying the triangle sandwiches. The egg sandwich had a lot of mayonnaise and smelled of margarine. The gratin sandwich had a crispy cream croquette with cabbage inside, and it was quite delicious. This bakery also sells bento boxes, and at this time, they had items like pickled daikon radish, chicken tomato stew, and clam chowder on display. This unique bakery, which uses the name Pasco, may be losing out on potential customers due to the common image of mass-produced bread associated with the Pasco brand.