Don Quiote Acquires Supermarket Chain “Olympic”: The Fading Vestiges of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

When I lived in Kokubunji, Tokyo in the mid-1980s, I’d often go shopping at Olympic, near one of the overpasses of the Chuo train line. For me, Olympic was one of those ordinary Tokyo institutions that felt permanent. It belonged to the landscape of western Tokyo in the way the mom-and-pop shops of the neighborhood shotengai did.

In April, 2026, 2026, the Olympic Group Corporation and its 120 retail outlets, which have been operating at a loss, was acquired by the Pan Pacific International Holdings Corporation (PPIH), which owns the more famous retail brand, Don Quijote. PPIH said that they will start refurbishing certain stores, and changing the name to “Robin Hood.”

In other words, Olympic as a supermarket brand will fade away.

Until recently, it never occurred to me that the chain’s name itself came from a distinct moment in Japanese history, when the word “Olympic” carried a meaning that went far beyond sports. Olympic opened its first store in Tachikawa, just as Tokyo was building toward the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games and city was gripped by Olympic fever.

The fever wasn’t spreading among athletes and inside stadiums. It burned throughout Japan. And in an era of historic economic gains, piggybacking on the global and aspirational brand of the Olympics made great business sense.

One of the first luxury condominium built in Japan is the Co-op Olympia, opened in 1965 right in the heart of the major Olympic venues of the 1964 Games.

When smoking in Japan was near its peak, you could grab a pack of Tokyo64 Cigarettes, or Olympia Cigarettes.

In fact the entire city of Tokyo was branded with the 5 rings of the IOC throughout 1964.

The visibility of the Olympic brand was a visible metric of the national mood, a brand that uplifted much of the nation.

That is why the fate of the Olympic supermarket brand makes me feel a tad sad. Its acquisition is not just a business story to me. Yes, this disappearance of this brand is an example of the harsh truths of inflation, labor shortages and rising costs. It is also a symbol of the gradual degradation of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic legacy.

The Olympic brand in 1964 told Japanese consumers they were living in a new age of hope and prosperity.

Even as the Olympic name recedes into history, the deeper question is whether Japan is ready to create another era in which ordinary people once again feel they are living at the beginning of something bigger and better.