109 (department store)

109 (Ichi-maru-kyū) is a department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan The store is operated by the Tokyu Malls Development (TMD), a company under the Tokyu Group.

History and description

The building, located just across the street from Shibuya Station, opened in April 1979. The architect was Minoru Takeyama. Tokyu, the building's operator, designed the building as a "Fashion Community" containing small retail stores targeting the early-30s female consumer. Tokyu intended the store to compete with Seibu Department Stores, which was making inroads into the Shibuya area.^[1]

The name of the building, 109, is taken from the Japanese characters to (meaning 10) and kyu (9) as in Tokyu. The interior of the building is designed to move shoppers in a loop on each floor from the elevators past various shops. A movie theater was originally planned for the top floor, but the fire department would not grant approval due to emergency-evacuation routes not meeting appropriate standards. Although originally targeted at women in their 30s, the building later became more known as a mecca for young women from the gyaru subculture.^[1][2]

Stores

• SHIBUYA 109 (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 1979
• 109MEN'S (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 1979
• KOHRINBO 109 (Kanazawa, Ishikawa) - September 1985
• 109 MACHIDA (Machida, Tokyo) - July 2002
• SHIZUOKA 109 (Shizuoka, Shizuoka) - October 2007

  It was created in March 2006 as SHIBUYA 109 DREAMS, later recreated into the current 109.^[3]

• MINATOMIRAI 109 (Yokohama, Kanagawa) - April 2010
• SHIBUYA 109 ABENO (Osaka, Osaka) - April 2011

Popular culture

• Shibuya as a whole appeared in Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE as a ruined city with 109 (renamed 199 in-game) apparently still intact but consumed by the landscape due to an earthquake.
• The store was seen in the opening of the PSP game DJ Max Portable 2.
• The store, along with a twin building 108 (which does not exist in the real world), is seen often in the Japanese TV series Sh15uya.
• An alternate version of 109 (renamed 104 for copyright purposes), is seen and prominently featured in the Nintendo DS game, The World Ends With You.
• The Japanese pop group, AKB48, has a song titled 109, in which the department store is directly referenced.
• The store is often seen and featured in the visual novel Chaos;Head, renamed 107 for copyright reasons.
• The game Tokyo Beat Down also shows an alternate 109, renamed 108 for copyright reasons.
• Is seen being destroyed along with the entire surrounding area in Resident Evil: Afterlife

References

• "SHIBUYA109 東京ガイド" (in Japanese). http://www.tokyoguide.net/spot/345/. Retrieved 2008-01-24. 
• "109Watch" (in Japanese). http://shibuya109watch.com. Retrieved 2008-01-24. 
• "Elastic" (in Japanese). http://taf5686.269g.net/. Retrieved 2008-01-24. 

External links

• Tokyu Malls Development (Japanese)
• SHIBUYA 109 (Japanese)
• 109MEN'S (Japanese)
• KOHRINBO 109 (Japanese)
• 109 MACHIDA (Japanese)
• SHIZUOKA 109 (Japanese)