In the center of Tokyo, Ginza Itoya uses a vertical farm to produce salads. The store, which is the headquarters of the historic stationery chain, has dedicated the entire surface area of the eleventh floor to its farm, which produces leafy vegetables such as frisée lettuce, rocket, mint and kale.
The farm is a local production for local consumption and, indeed, the vegetables are used for the menus of Café Stylo, on the twelfth floor.
Founded in 1904, Itoya is an institution in Japan. In a country where business cards and handwritten letters and postcards are still of great value, stationery remains a sector of primary importance. For this reason, Japanese stationery enjoys a worldwide reputation for excellent quality and craftsmanship. In most central districts, such as Shibuya and Shinjuku, there is at least one department store dedicated to pens, pencils and all types of office supplies.
Ginza Itoya is located on the main street of Ginza and is made up of two adjacent buildings and fourteen floors dedicated to the sale of stationery, each with a different theme. Then there are areas for events, the aforementioned spaces of the farm and the Café Stylo, whose name in French appropriately means "pen", and finally the Drink juice bar, where the farm's vegetables are available for sale, picked on the same day and kilometer zero.
Read the entire article at SH Magazine (in Italian)