10 Best Places to Go Shopping in Sendai

The pride of Sendai, Ichibancho is known as one of the most bustling shopping districts in the Tohoku region. The area includes Sun Mall Ichibancho, VLANDOME Ichibancho, and Ichibancho 4-chome Shopping Street.

These arcades are all covered, so there’s no need to worry about rain as you check out the many department stores, famous brand shops, and restaurants. The streets are wide and the roofs are high enough to make the area feel spacious and open, while the trees planted in the arcade will remind you that Sendai is indeed the City of Trees. In August, this area is also one of the main venues for the Tanabata Festival (a star festival originally from Chinese legend).

Mitsui Outlet Park Sendai Port is an outlet mall packed full of about 120 well-known manufacturers’ shops, including brands from Japan and abroad. If you’re looking for quality items are outlet prices, this is the place for you.

Located midway between Sendai Station, Sendai Airport, and Matsushima (officially one of the top 3 scenic spots in Japan), the mall is an ideal place to shop while sightseeing in the region. As well as souvenir shops selling specialties produced in the Tohoku area, you’ll also find plenty of restaurants serving local delicacies. With a Ferris wheel and an amusement park, it’s also a great spot for shopping with children.

Sendai PARCO is located right next to the West Exit of Sendai Station. It’s the Sendai branch of PARCO, a leading fashion building based in Tokyo, and is the only PARCO store in the Tohoku region.

With 9 floors above ground and 1 basement level, it houses approximately 150 shops, including fashion shops, stores selling general goods, cafés, and restaurants. PARCO is full of the newest fashions, and various events are held here from time to time. About 300 meters southwest of the main store is the new PARCO2 building, which has a cinema complex and other facilities.

Sendai Izumi Premium Outlets is located in the northwestern suburbs of Sendai City. You can get there in 30-40 minutes from Sendai Station by car or bus.

The buildings are styled after the streets of towns in the northeastern United States, with the idea of giving shoppers a pleasantly elegant setting to enjoy. There are 80 stores offering well-known brands from Japan and abroad. With Sendai Royal Park Hotel and the Izumi Park Town Tapio shopping centre nearby, it’s an ideal destination for a shopping trip or a quick stop off while sightseeing.

Sendai Asaichi Morning Market is a shopping area just a 5-minute walk from Sendai Station that offers a huge variety of fresh food products. At the 70-odd shops here, you can hear the cheerful calls of the vendors from early in the morning.

Sendai Asaichi started out as an open-air market formed in 1945 in front of Sendai Station, with its streets lined with stalls after the city was devastated by an air raid during the Pacific War. Thanks to Tohoku’s bountiful oceans, mountains, and plains, various local products from all over Miyagi Prefecture are brought to the Morning Market, ranging from Sendai strawberries in the spring to Sendai parsnips and Sendai Chinese cabbage in the winter, and from silver salmon in the spring to oysters in the winter.

Sendai Outer Market Mori no Ichiba is a marketplace that brings together the seasonal delights of Miyagi for the general population to shop and enjoy. The owner's is aiming to revitalise Tohoku's farming and fishing villages and share with the rest of the country the treasure trove of food ingredients Tohoku has to offer.

The market features 31 shops selling everything from fresh fish and processed seafood to fruits and vegetables, and you’ll also find a good selection of restaurants and flower shops. Whether you're on a hunt for souvenirs or you’re looking for a kaisendon (seafood rice bowl) or gyutan (beef tongue) restaurant, Mori no Ichiba has you covered. This new style of market combines the friendliness of a traditional Japanese market with the bright and sophisticated ambience of Mediterranean markets.

S-PAL Sendai is a shopping mall directly connected to JR Sendai Station, the gateway to the Tohoku region. With about 330 retailers gathered here, this is one of the major shopping hubs in Sendai, attracting local shoppers and tourists alike.

It has 3 buildings: the Main Building, East Building, and a building simply known as "II". In addition to shopping for fashion and general goods in all buildings, the Main and Easy Buildings also serve Sendai seafood, gyutan (beef tongue) and other gourmet delicacies. With a variety of souvenir shops, it's also a useful place to shop for Tohoku specialities at the end of your trip, just before boarding the train.

AER (pronounced as "a-e-ru") is a 31-storey landmark building complex located just a 2-minute walk from Sendai Station.

The first 4 levels make up the "Shop & Wonder AER" commercial facility where you can find fashion items and all kinds of other goods, as well as a large bookshop and a stationery shop. The atrium space with an open ceiling on the first and second floors is designed for events such as exhibitions of new products and Christmas illuminations. The observation terrace on the top floor (access is free of charge) commands a panoramic view across the city of Sendai all the way to the Zao Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Izumi Park Town Tapio is a shopping mall at the heart of Sendai’s new Izumi Park Town. The name Tapio is Finnish for "spirit or god of the forest".

The mall houses a wide variety of stores, including fashion shops, general goods, interior furnishings, food, and restaurants, and is only a 30-40 minute drive by car or bus from the centre of Sendai City. It’s right next to Sendai Izumi Premium Outlets, so you might want to visit both on the same trip.

Sendai Forus is a shopping centre in Sendai City's Ichibancho area, with 8 floors above ground and a basement level of 3 floors underground. The area just near the entrance on the Ichibancho side is a popular place for people to meet up and is known by the locals as Forus-mae or Rusmae (meaning "in front of Forus").

Some 150 specialist stores sell everything from fashionable clothing to knick-knacks and accessories, and there are also bookshops and cafés where you can easily spend a lot of time. Shiawase no Pancake, a popular American pancake store from Omotesando, Tokyo, opened its first store in the Tohoku region right here at Sendai Forus.