115-year-old mochi store in S.F. closing
Don’t panic yet, Bay Area. Benkyodo, which has been selling handmade mochi in San Francisco for over a century, is not closing for good until the end of March.
News of a more imminent but erroneous closure date spread just before Benkyodo’s winter break in late December. So when the cash-only shop on the corner of Buchanan and Sutter streets reopened on Tuesday morning, a line of eager fans stretched all the way down the block — some waiting as long as two hours for bouncy pale-pink mochi stuffed with peanut butter and plump red-bean-filled manju.
A few devotees arrived as early as 8 a.m., an hour before Benkyodo’s doors would open. The seasonal, fresh fruit mochi sold out in the first hour, though other flavors were available, and employees were hard at work refreshing the empty glass cases. While some customers had heard through the grapevine that March 31 was the actual closing date, others were under the impression this was their last chance to get their hands on the beloved Japanese sweets.
Co-owner Bobby Okamura confirmed through an employee that Benkyodo will remain open through March but declined an interview. He and his brother Ricky, the shop’s third-generation owners, have been saying publicly for nearly a year that they plan to retire and have been searching for a buyer to take over the business.
People waiting in line on Tuesday were already feeling the loss of a 115year-old San Francisco institution and one of the last places in the Bay Area devoted to making fresh mochi by hand. Only shops such as Shuei-Do Manju Shop in San Jose and Osaka-Ya in Sacramento remain. Some customers told The Chronicle they’ve been frequenting Benkyodo for over 20 years, while others finally made it out for the first time after hearing the shop was on the verge of closing.
Esther Perez walked from Nob Hill to line up for her preferred mochi (pink habutai, filled with white lima beans) and her partner’s (suama, colorful with stripes of pink and green). She’s lived in San Francisco for just five years but has adopted Benkyodo as a family tradition: Her partner was born and raised in San Francisco and has been eating the shop’s mochi since he was a kid.
“I’m so sad,” Perez said about the closure. “I wish someone bought it so it could stay. But then we don’t know if it would be the same.”
Several customers said it’s not just the mochi; Benkyodo’s history also resonates with them.
Suyeichi Okamura, Ricky and Bobby’s grandfather, opened Benkyodo several blocks away on Geary Boulevard in 1906. During World War II, Suyeichi Okamura and family members were sent to an internment camp in Colorado. A neighbor kept watch over the store until they could return. They later moved the store to its current Japantown location at 1747 Buchanan St., and the two brothers eventually took over.
Their story is “quite moving and courageous,” said Nacha Klopf, who was second in line on Tuesday morning. “Benkyodo’s history is of survival and triumph against all odds.”
Klopf is a more recent Benkyodo convert. She first tried the Okamuras’ mochi in October on recommendation from a friend who “vividly described how much Benkyodo reminds him of eating his mom’s homemade mochi.”
The hand-shaped sweets quickly became a comfort food for Klopf — so much so that when she recently had surgery, she made sure to ask her surgeon if she could eat mochi “in moderation” after her procedure.
“Benkyodo is a beloved institution that is very much appreciated, even by newcomers like me,” Klopf said.