Kumamoto earthquake shutters retailers, several stores reopen

The July 28 Kumamoto earthquake forced a wide range of retailers across Kumamoto Prefecture to suspend operations, including supermarkets, home‑center chains, electronics stores and drugstores. Companies such as Aeon, Maxvalu, The Big, Yume Town, Super Center Trial, Atax, Sunlive, DCM, Komeri, Yamada Denki and many drugstore chains listed multiple outlets as temporarily closed.

By July 31, Sandrug and Dairex announced that eight of the twelve stores they had closed have resumed business. The reopened locations include four Sandrug branches in Kumamoto City, Kikuho Town, Yamagata and Minami‑Kumamoto, and four Dairex branches in Yatsushiro, Uzumoto, Higashino and Gomune. Four other stores—one Sandrug and three Dairex outlets—remain temporarily shut with no set reopening date.