Plano residents have been driving by Japanese grocer Mitsuwa Marketplace's empty building for a while. Well, it's ready to commit to its Texas debut.

Mitsuwa is preparing for an April 14 opening, according to its website. The store is just west of North Central Expressway on the south side of Legacy Drive.

Mitsuwa, a longtime California food retailer, picked Collin County with its growing Asian population for its entry. While Toyota's U.S. headquarters is about to open, Collin County already had a large Asian population. In 2015, about 13 percent of Collin County's population was Asian, according to the U.S. census. That's more than twice the national level of 5.4 percent.

Mitsuwa had a false start last year, but this time it's a go. Why is Mitsuwa so popular? It's not just about the grocery aisles. It's also about what Mitsuwa calls its degustation, or the food hall. (The Plano store uses the term on the outside of its building.)

Folks in the know tell me it's about the authentic-tasting prepared food tenants such as Santouka, the famous ramen shop in Japan that Mitsuwa brought to the U.S.

Food hall shops that we know of so far in addition to Ramen Santouka are Kaneko Hannosuke, Densetsu No Sutadonya, Pullman Bakery, Matcha LOVE, Lupicia Fresh Tea, J. Sweets.

Another shop inside the store is Books Kinokuniya, which is kind of a book store combined with stationery, toys and gifts. There's a freestanding Books Kinokuniya store here in Carrollton Town Center, which is anchored by 99 Ranch Market. It's also the shopping center where Japanese dollar store Daiso opened its first store in North Texas. I've heard a lot of good things about Kinokuniya.

Mitsuwa's Plano store is 25,775 square feet. That's about twice the size of a Trader Joe's. The company dates back to 1972 when the Yaohan grocery company expanded to the U.S. Later, Yaohan went out of business in Japan, and the U.S. stores were purchased in 1998. That's when the stores were renamed Mitsuwa.

Mitsuwa operates seven stores in California and one each in Arlington Heights outside of Chicago and Edgewater, N.J., just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Stores also sell cosmetics, general merchandise and small electrical appliances.

Asian grocers apparently like to cluster, but each of the supermarkets have either a Chinese, Hong Kong, Korean or Japanese bent with certain ingredients, brands and cuts it stocks.

In Plano, Mitsuwa is locating near two other Asian grocers, Jusgo, which is in an adjacent shopping center, and 99 Ranch Market, which is one exit south on North Central Expressway on West Spring Creek Parkway. H Mart, known more as a Korean market, is located across North Central in East Plano on Avenue K.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

CORRECTION at 3:23 p.m. on March 22, 2017, an earlier version of this story said Mitsuwa is just east of N. Central Expressway. The store is just west of Central.