Familiar, which was founded in Kobe as a modest baby shop, had many benefactors in the process of expanding nationwide. One of them was Masashi Shimizu, the head of the Hankyu Group. This encounter led to the opening of a store in a Hankyu department store, which became the foundation for the company's nationwide expansion.

Shimizu, who was the president of Hankyu Department Store, would occasionally stroll around the city of Kobe with his wife, when one day he happened to come across a Familia store.
President Shimizu felt that "This is a store with some very good products. It will likely grow," and instructed his then-section manager at Hankyu, Shoichiro Torii (later president of Hankyu Department Stores), to consider purchasing Familia's products.
At the time, Sakano Michio was working at the Hankyu Department Store as an employee of Renown, and Torii, who received instructions from President Shimizu, was a senior colleague of Michio's at university. Because of this relationship, Torii asked Atsuko, "Do you know a store called Familia in Kobe?" and she replied, "It's a store run by my wife," which surprised both of them. Michio told Atsuko and the others that Hankyu Department Store had asked them to open a store there.

It was unusual for a department store to approach a store that had been in business for less than a year.
When asked about the conditions for opening a store, they said, "As a special treat, we will give your products the Hankyu Special Selection mark, so please change the name and deliver them to us as soon as possible.We will also buy them at the best possible price."It was an exceptional and welcome offer, but the reaction of Sakano Atsuko and Tamura Mitsuko, who were present, was unexpected.
"We cannot put any name other than Familia on the products we make with our own hands," they said. The Hankyu staff was astonished by their words, which showed a complete lack of product knowledge.

"It's impossible to sell something with a retail store's name on it in a department store. There's also no precedent for this," she was told, but Atsuko still couldn't accept it.
"Familiar does retail sales as well, but we are also a manufacturer that makes genuine products. If we are not allowed to sell them under the Familiar name, we will decline. We are busy making products just to sell at our Kobe store, so we have no desire to go out of our way to make products that do not have the Familiar mark," continues Mitsuko.
"At Hankyu, you sell Okura Touen tableware under the same name, right? It would be a different story if you removed the Okura Touen mark and sold it under the name Hankyu Touen..."
When Mitsuko compared Ogura Touen, which is known even overseas, to a newly opened baby shop on an equal footing, the Hankyu representative looked as if he had never encountered such a person before, and Michio, who was also present, was at a loss.
However, since this was President Shimizu's instruction, they could not just give up, so he suggested that they adopt the name "Hankyu Familia Group," and Atsuko finally agreed.

Although Familia did not advertise any of its products, they were well received from the first day they opened.
Within a week, the display cases had begun to look deserted. Seeing this, the sales manager at Hankyu Department Store said, "Please replenish the stock quickly. It's unsightly to leave the display cases so empty."
In fact, production plans were based on a one-month sales forecast of approximately 200,000 yen provided by the department store, but because the products sold much faster than expected, production could not be completed in time. From their perspective, it was disappointing that Familia was being blamed for the shortage.
"In that case, we'll give you one of the cases back." The wholesalers who frequent the department store are always competing to secure cases, but they offered to return the case.
Apparently, their words and actions had inadvertently reached President Shimizu's ears, and the next day Atsuko was called into the president's office.

President Shimizu invited her in and eased the conversation by saying, "I didn't know what kind of people were running Familia, but I've heard that I know your brother (Ryuichi Sasaki, then president of Sasaki Real Estate Co., Ltd.) and Yamashita Saburo (then president of Yamashita Shinnihon Kisen Co., Ltd. and husband of Tamura Etsuko's older sister) very well, so I'm surprised." He then continued, "It's great that you started a business with all women. Women are very active in the American women's and children's clothing industry and in department stores. It's only natural that women are better suited than men to making and selling women's and children's items. I've been thinking that Japan needed to move in that direction soon, so I'm really happy to see you women stepping up. I'm sure you'll be successful. Instead of saying you want to reduce the number of cases, why don't you consider increasing the number from two to five? Your group will soon be a fixture at Hankyu Department Store." President Shimizu's kind words resonated with Atsuko.
Mitsuko and the others were all moved by this story and decided to work hard to create a product that would meet President Shimizu's expectations, and two months later they had worked hard to increase the number of cases to three.

Shortly after Michio was appointed President and CEO, Hankyu Department Store announced that it would be expanding into Sukiyabashi in addition to its Tokyo Oi store, and Familia was privately informed about the matter.
The building in Sukiyabashi had been requisitioned by the US military but was later released. Rather than using it as an office, the original owner, Toshiba, wanted to contribute to the prosperity of Ginza, so then-Vice President Murakami of Hankyu Department Store said, "Since the only floors we have available for use as a department store are the first floor and part of the basement, we need to specialize in a certain type of product, more like a specialty store than a department store. In that regard, we are thinking of promoting Familiar baby and children's products, which cannot be found anywhere else in Tokyo, as one of our main attractions. Would you consider this?"

There was even talk that we could entrust most of the first floor to Familia, depending on their determination, but as that would have been too much of a burden, we decided to take responsibility for only one corner on the east side.
Although it was decided to open under the name Sukiyabashi store, there was only one week to prepare, and after many nights of work, the store finally opened on May 29, 1956.