Sapporo Factory is a large shopping, dining and entertainment complex in central Sapporo’s Sosei East district. It occupies the former Sapporo Beer factory site, where the Kaitakushi Beer Brewery opened in 1876, and incorporates surviving red-brick brewery buildings and a historic chimney.
Sapporo Factory at night
The complex comprises seven buildings with around 150 shops and restaurants. Highlights include one of Sapporo’s strongest concentrations of outdoor and sports brands, an 11-screen cinema, the all-weather Atrium, a working craft brewery and free brewery exhibition, and a hotel. This guide explains how the buildings fit together and which facilities are most useful to visitors.
The History of Sapporo Factory
The Kaitakushi Beer Brewery formally opened here on September 23, 1876. It was the first facility with full-scale brewing equipment to make German-style beer entirely through Japanese expertise, and it became the root of Sapporo Beer. After the Kaitakushi was abolished in 1882, the brewery passed through government control and was sold to Okura-gumi in 1886. Sapporo Bakushu was founded the following year, beginning the brewery’s private-company era.
Beer production continued at this site for 113 years. The new Hokkaido brewery in Eniwa was completed in June 1989, ending the Sapporo factory’s production role. Sapporo Factory opened on April 9, 1993, preserving and reusing brick buildings and the chimney. A small brewery within the complex continues to make beer using methods based on those of the original brewery.
Some of the original red-brick brewery buildings at Sapporo Factory
The Buildings
Sapporo Factory’s seven buildings form three groups. On the south side of Kita-2-jo Dori, Frontier Kan and 1-jo Kan are directly connected. North of the road, 2-jo Kan, the Atrium, 3-jo Kan and Renga Kan form the main cluster. Nishi Kan stands to the west across a smaller road and contains the hotel and Sapporo Factory Hall.
Inside Tokou Store on the 1st floor of Frontier Kan
The Frontier Kan is the complex’s everyday-shopping building. Tokou Store supermarket occupies much of the 1st floor. On the 2nd floor, Sapporo Drug Store is joined by Viceversa, Arnot and Kitano Ace, as well as Miyataya Coffee and bank ATMs.
Namco amusement arcade in the 1-jo Kan building
The 1-jo Kan connects directly to Frontier Kan by 2nd-floor walkways. The 1st floor contains Petland Plus, Nishimatsuya and the Karimoku furniture showroom. On the 2nd floor are Seria, Zetteria, Namco and Lawson United Cinemas Sapporo. The cinema has 11 screens and offers Hokkaido’s only IMAX Laser auditorium, together with 4DX and ScreenX. The 3rd floor contains the Kita Gas showroom and cooking school.
Inside Lawson United Cinemas Sapporo
The 2-jo Kan remains Sapporo Factory’s main outdoor and sports building. It connects to 1-jo Kan at B1 and the 2nd floor. B1 includes A&F Country, The North Face+, SORA, Helly Hansen and Logos. The 1st floor combines family-oriented shops, services, a children’s play space, Snow Peak and Tully’s Coffee. Sports and fashion brands on the 2nd floor include PNS, Adidas, Puma, Descente and Lacoste, while the 3rd floor includes Mont-bell, Columbia, Mammut and specialist mountain, ski, skateboard and snowboard shops.
PNS sportswear store on the 2nd floor
Mont-bell on the 3rd floor
The Atrium is Sapporo Factory’s glass-roofed, all-weather indoor garden, with greenery and seasonal flowers throughout the year. Its event space and walkways are surrounded by places to eat. On the 1st floor, Outdoor Cafe Meal Lounge serves pizza and pasta, Sapporo Gyutei specializes in grilled hamburg steak, Ton-yoshi serves tonkatsu, and Hokkaido Ramen Okugengaryu Kura offers ramen. B1 choices include Seikaro steamed buns, Freshness Burger, espuma, Ice Cream Factory and several sweets and snack shops.
Inside the Atrium
The Atrium event stage
B1 of the 3-jo Kan is a restaurant floor. Dekitateya serves seafood and rice bowls, Fugetsu specializes in okonomiyaki and yaki-soba, Sapporo Soup Curry Higuma serves soup curry, Taj Mahal offers Indian food, and Teuchi Soba Sakura serves handmade soba.
Taj Mahal Indian restaurant on B1 of 3-jo Kan
The 1st floor brings together the Post Office, a 7-Eleven, Hokuyo Bank, a barber, a beauty salon and other services. The 2nd floor mixes prepared food and cafes with an aquarium shop, furniture and general goods. Furniture and interiors dominate the 3rd floor, where Blocco is joined by Simmons Sleep Shop, Living Plaza Sapporo and PARS Persian.
Blocco on the 3rd floor is a sofa specialty store
The Renga Kan preserves part of the former brewery complex, although part of the building is closed for seismic-strengthening work. Its public businesses are concentrated on the 1st floor: the BREWERY 1876 standing pub, a photo studio, and the Sapporo Kaitakushi Beer Brewery and Exhibition Hall. The brewery continues to make beer at Sapporo Beer’s birthplace using methods based on the original process. Upstairs, the free exhibition shows working brewing equipment, including a mash kettle and filter tank, and panels on the history of beer-making in Japan. BREWERY 1876 has seasonal opening hours, so visitors should check the day’s schedule before making it the focus of a visit.
Inside the Sapporo Kaitakushi Beer Brewery exhibition hall
A night-time view of the Renga Kan
The Nishi Kan contains Hotel Sosei Sapporo MGallery, which opened in January 2024 after a full renovation of Hotel Clubby. The 118-room hotel has a restaurant, bar lounge and fitness gym. The other main facility is Sapporo Factory Hall, a flat-floor multipurpose venue used for exhibitions, concerts, meetings and other events.
Services & Facilities
The AI Information point on the 1st floor of 3-jo Kan uses an unmanned touch panel for building and service guidance and is available from 10:00 to 20:00. Wheelchairs can be borrowed there. Coin-return strollers are available by the 2-jo Kan 2F elevator, in front of the 3-jo Kan information point, on the Atrium 1F walkway and on Frontier Kan 2F; a 100-yen coin is required and returned after use.
Free Wi-Fi is available after registration, although reception can be weak in some parts of the complex. Participating shops offer tax-free shopping. The central tax-free counter is on 2-jo Kan 2F and is open from 10:00 to 20:00; some participating stores process tax-free purchases in the shop instead.
The Post Office on 3-jo Kan 1F is open from 9:00 to 17:00 on weekdays, with cash services available until 19:00. Seven Bank ATMs are on 1-jo Kan 2F, where the ATM is available 24 hours, and 3-jo Kan 1F, where it is available from 7:00 to 22:00. Seven Bank supports many foreign-issued cards and multiple screen languages, although acceptance and fees depend on the card and network.
Nursing rooms are on 2-jo Kan B1, 3-jo Kan B1 and 3-jo Kan 2F. A baby-and-kids room with changing and rest facilities is also on 3-jo Kan 2F.
Wheelchair-accessible multipurpose toilets are on Frontier Kan 2F, 1-jo Kan 3F, 2-jo Kan 1F through 3F, the west side of 3-jo Kan 1F, and Renga Kan 1F.
The prayer room remains on 3-jo Kan 3F and is available from 10:00 to 20:00.
Coin lockers are on 1-jo Kan 1F and 3-jo Kan 1F. They are available from 10:00 to 22:00 and cannot be accessed after 22:00.
Location
Sapporo Factory is approximately 17 minutes on foot from JR Sapporo Station. Bus Center-mae Station Exit 8 on the Tozai Subway Line is about three minutes away. By bus, use the Hokkaido Chuo Bus Factory Line to the Sapporo Factory stop, or board a qualifying JR Hokkaido Bus at temporary stands 11 or 12 near Sapporo Station; route 5 and express buses do not serve the stop.
Drivers can use the 1st and 2nd car parks. The 1st car park is open 24 hours; the 2nd is open from 7:00 to 1:30, with final entry at midnight and no overnight parking. The first hour is free, after which parking costs 300 yen per 30 minutes. Spending at least 2,000 yen in participating businesses gives two hours free, and a cinema visit gives three hours free; the benefits can be combined for up to six hours. The vehicle-height limit is 2.1 metres.
Opening Hours
Shopping: 10:00-20:00
Restaurants: 11:00-22:00
Cinema: Check the day’s screening schedule
Some shops and restaurants keep different hours. Except for some businesses, the complex is closed on December 31 and January 1.
Article and original photos by Michael Lambe. All rights reserved. Last updated 04-Sep-2026.
