Japanese-based Brug Bakery Hawaii will officially reopen at Ala Moana Center on Saturday, the same day Shirokiya, its former host, opens its much-ballyhooed Japan Village Walk in the center’s Ewa Wing.
Additionally, the Hokkaido-based bakery will expand to Pearlridge Center Uptown and downtown Honolulu.
The coinciding opening dates are “very much coincidental,” said Brug Bakery Hawaii President Miho Choi.
Brug opened in Shirokiya in 2013, succeeding Saint-Germain’s Bakery, a longtime occupant. Saint-Germain’s opened not one, but two other stores at the center.
Choi is grateful for the start and foundation Brug Hawaii received in its former space, where its customer base grew to the point where it was able to launch out on its own.
Brug’s popular pastries and other treats will be sold from the former Pretzelmaker location, two doors from Lupicia, the tea shop on the street-level, mauka side of Ala Moana Center.
“Even if we’re in a smaller space than before, we will offer the same number and variety of items,” Choi said. “We bake up everything fresh.”
The company has a central kitchen in Kakaako where its various pastry and bread doughs are made fresh from scratch in the wee hours of each morning.
Grand-opening festivities will include a Hawaiian blessing on the first day, and two days’ worth of free samples and gifts with purchase, including an eco-bag and refrigerator magnet. Customers also can register to win prizes that include gift cards and a trip for two to Hokkaido, the winner of which will be announced Aug. 31.
Those who sign up for a Brug bumper sticker could win a dozen free pastries if their car is spotted at Ala Moana sporting the sticker on any given Friday.
Brug Bakery Hawaii’s hours at Ala Moana are
8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.
The Pearlridge location is slated to open in November, prior to the holiday season, while Miho said the company is in discussions for a location in downtown Honolulu.
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