Matsuya's Kitami-Tokiwa Store Ends 24-Hour Operation, Shifts to Day-of-Week Hours

Among Matsuya locations, hours changes were confirmed by July 30 at two stores: Kitami-Tokiwa (2252) and Soka-Higashiguchi (1912). Kitami-Tokiwa, the only Matsuya in Kitami City, Hokkaido, has notably ended its long-running 24-hour operation and switched to a system with hours set by day of the week. In both cases, this is a revision of operating hours, not a store closure.

Kitami-Tokiwa: From All-Day Operation to Day-of-Week Hours

Before the change, Kitami-Tokiwa operated 24 hours a day regardless of the day of the week. It now has the following hours set by day.

Day	Hours
Mon–Thu	9:00 a.m.–10:30 p.m.
Fri	From 9:00 a.m.
Sat	24-hour operation
Sun	Until 10:30 p.m.

Only the 9:00 a.m. opening time is given for Friday, and only the 10:30 p.m. closing time for Sunday, which suggests the store stays open continuously from Friday morning through Saturday’s 24-hour operation and on into Sunday night, covering the weekend without a break. On weekdays, late-night hours have been dropped, and the store now closes at 10:30 p.m.

Kitami-Tokiwa is the only Matsuya operating within Kitami City. Across all of Hokkaido, Matsuya has just 25 stores, and the nearest sister store to Kitami-Tokiwa is Otofuke, near Obihiro City, roughly 109 km away in a straight line. As a store with no nearby neighbors and a degree of geographic isolation, its switch from 24-hour operation to day-of-week hours is a change that directly affects the daily rhythm of Matsuya customers in the area.

Kitami-Tokiwa is also a store that houses a Matsunoya location alongside it. Of Matsuya’s 25 stores in Hokkaido, 18 (72%) are paired with a Matsunoya, far above the nationwide average of 39% (472 of 1,207 stores). As a store where customers can also enjoy tonkatsu, this hours revision affects the available hours for both Beef Bowl and tonkatsu. The shift from 24-hour operation to reduced, day-of-week hours has already been seen at stores in other areas.

Soka-Higashiguchi: A Second Hours Revision in About Two Months

Soka-Higashiguchi’s hours changed from 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. the next day (last order 30 minutes before closing) to 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day (last order 30 minutes before closing). Opening moved two hours later, from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., and closing moved one hour earlier, from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., shortening hours at both ends.

This store had also significantly expanded its hours on June 1, from 9:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.–2:00 a.m. the next day, only recently widening its window to open at 5:00 a.m. and stay open until 2:00 a.m. This latest change trims that window at both the morning and night ends, marking a second revision in about two months. The pattern is one of extending late-night hours and then partially rolling them back.

Soka City, home to Soka-Higashiguchi, has six Matsuya stores clustered together: Soka, Soka-Seimoncho, Soka-Nishiguchi, Soka-Higashiguchi, Soka-Matsue, and Dokkyo-Daigaku-Mae. Saitama Prefecture has 102 Matsuya stores in total, making this an hours adjustment within one corner of a store-dense area. The store has also already announced a temporary closure from 3:00 p.m. on August 3 to 3:00 p.m. on August 10, so this summer brings both an hours change and a temporary closure in succession.