Mitsukoshi

The Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Nihonbashi section of Tokyo

Utagawa Hiroshige printed an Ukiyoe with Mt. Fuji and Echigoya as landmarks. Echigoya is the former name of Mitsukoshi named after the former province of Echigo. The Mitsukoshi headquarters are located on the left side of the street.

Nihonbashi main branch

Mitsukoshi, Ltd. (株式会社三越, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsukoshi) is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, which also owns the Isetan department store chain.

History

It was founded in 1673 with the yagō (shop name) Echigoya (越後屋), selling kimonos. Ten years later in 1683, Echigoya took a new approach to marketing. Instead of selling by going door-to-door, they set up a store where buyers could purchase goods on the spot with cash. Mitsukoshimae Station on the Tokyo Metro is named after the adjacent Mitsukoshi department store.

Mitsukoshi is the root of Mitsui group. In the 1970s, Mitsukoshi bought the Oriental Nakamura department store in Nagoya and re-branded them as Mitsukoshi Nagoya.

Genichiro Inokuma designed the wrapping paper in white and red.^[1]

In August 2007, it was announced that Mitsukoshi would merge into Isetan, a major department store in Japan.^[2] Mitsukoshi TYO: 2779 was unlisted on March 26, 2008, and on April 1, it merged with Isetan under a joint holding company called Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (TYO: 3099).

Stores

Japan

Stores managed by Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd.

• Nihonbashi Main Branch (Chūō, Tokyo) 日本橋本店
• Ginza Mitsukoshi (Chūō, Tokyo) 銀座三越
• Ebisu Mitsukoshi (Shibuya, Tokyo) 恵比寿三越
• Tama Center Mitsukoshi (Tama, Tokyo) 多摩センター三越
• Chiba Mitsukoshi (Chūō-ku, Chiba) 千葉三越

Stores managed by other companies

• Sapporo Store (Chūō-ku, Sapporo) 札幌店 - Sapporo Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Sendai Store (Aoba-ku, Sendai) 仙台店 - Sendai Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Nagoya Sakae Main Branch (Naka-ku, Nagoya) 名古屋栄本店 - Nagoya Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Hoshigaoka Mitsukoshi (Chikusa-ku, Nagoya) 星ヶ丘三越 - Nagoya Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Niigata Mitsukoshi (Nishibori-dōri) 新潟三越 - Niigata Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• JR Osaka Isetan Mitsukoshi (Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka) JR大阪三越伊勢丹
• Hiroshima Mitsukoshi (Naka-ku, Hiroshima) 広島三越 - Hiroshima Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Takamatsu Mitsukoshi 高松三越 - Takamatsu Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Matsuyama Mitsukoshi 松山三越 - Matsuyama Mitsukoshi Ltd.
• Fukuoka Mitsukoshi (Chūō-ku, Fukuoka) 福岡三越 - Iwataya Mitsukoshi Ltd.

Closed stores

• Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Alcott (Shinjuku, Tokyo) 新宿三越アルコット
• Ikebukuro Mitsukoshi (Toshima, Tokyo) 池袋三越 - closed May 2009 ^[3]
• Musashimurayama Mitsukoshi (Musashimurayama, Tokyo) 武蔵村山三越
• Kagoshima Mitsukoshi 鹿児島三越

Taiwan

The stores in Taiwan are named Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), a collaboration between the Shin Kong Group (新光; pinyin: Xīnguāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sin-kong) and Mitsukoshi.

• Taipei:
  • Nanjing Road Store, with three buildings (1館, 2館, and 3館)
  • Xinyi New Life Square (信義新天地): 4 buildings (A4, A8, A9, and A11館)
  • Taipei Main Station Store (台北站前店)
  • Tianmu Store
• Taoyuan:
  • Dayou Road Store (大有店)
  • Taoyuan Station Store (站前店)
• Hsinchu:
  • Chunghwa Road Store (中華店)
• Taichung:
  • Zhonggang Road Store (中港店)
• Chiayi:
  • Chuiyang Road Store (垂楊店)
• Tainan:
  • Zhongshan Road Store (中山店)
  • Ximen Road Store (西門店)
• Kaohsiung:
  • Sanduo Shopping District Store (三多店)
  • Zuoying District Store (左營店)

Hong Kong

The first Mitsukoshi in Hong Kong was opened at 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay on 26 August, 1981, which spanned 4 levels with 12000 sq meters. In 1988, the second store was opened in the Sun Arcade in Tsim Sha Tsui but it was closed down in 1995. In June 2006, Mitsukoshi Ltd. announced the closure of its Causeway Bay store on 17 September 2006 as well, due to the redevelopment of Hennessy Centre. The store was scheduled to relocate to another location in 2009, but Hong Kong Mitsukoshi has yet to re-open as of the end of 2013.^{[citation needed]}

China

• Dalian closed at the end of the Second World War
• Shanghai (Okura Garden Hotel)^[4]

Korea

In 1930, Mitsukoshi opened their department store (京城三越) in downtown Seoul. After the liberation of Korea and the defeat of Japan in 1945, Samsung took over this store and was renamed Shinsegae (신세계; Shinsegae; lit. New World).

Europe

Italy

• Rome (Via Nazionale)

United Kingdom

• London (Piccadily) - At the end of June 2013 a large red poster was displayed in the window of Mitzukoshi London department store which read '34年間ありがとうございます Closing Down Sale' which means 'Thank you for 34 Years'.

The three German stores of Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich as well as the Milan shop closed in 2008 and 2009, the Paris shop closed in 2010 (and the Paris cultural center in 2011).^[3][4]

North America

• Orlando, Florida, United States (at Epcot's Japan Pavilion, which Mitsukoshi hosts and operates, Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida) ^[5]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitsukoshi.

• Mitsukoshi (Japanese)
• Mitsukoshi Foreign Customer Service (English)(Chinese)(Korean)
• Mitsukoshi, Ltd. Annual Report (English)
• Mitsukoshi London (English)
• Mitsukoshi Roma (Italian)
• Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (Chinese)