Mitsukoshi

The Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Nihonbashi section of Tokyo

Utagawa Hiroshige printed an Ukiyoe, in which Mt. Fuji and Echigoya are located as landmarks. Echigoya (越後屋）is the former name of Mitsukoshi named after the former province of Echigo. Currently the headquarters of Mitsukoshi is located on the left side of the street (SMBC on the right side, BOJ down the street).

Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Nihonbashi Main Store

Mitsukoshi Gofukuten Postcard pre-1914

Mitsukoshi, Ltd. (株式会社三越, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsukoshi^?) (TYO: 2779 unlisted on March 26, 2008) is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1673 with the yagō (shop name) "Echigoya.". 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 August 2007, it was announced that Mitsukoshi will merge into Isetan, a major department store in Japan.^[1] On April 1, 2008, Mitsukoshi and Isetan were merged under a joint holding company called Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (TYO: 3099).

Stores

Stores in Japan

In Japan, there are a number of stores. Here are the main ones:

Kantō

Tokyo

Special Wards of Tokyo

• Nihonbashi Main Branch (Chūō) 日本橋本店(東京都中央区日本橋室町）
• Ginza Mitsukoshi (Chūō) 銀座三越（東京都中央区）
• Shinjuku Mitsukoshi ALCOTT (Shinjuku) 新宿三越アルコット（東京都新宿区）
• Ikebukuro Mitsukoshi (Toshima) 池袋三越（東京都豊島区）- closing May 2009
• Ebisu Mitsukoshi (Shibuya) 恵比寿三越（東京都渋谷区）

Other locations in Tokyo

• Tama Center Mitsukoshi (Tama) 多摩センター三越（東京都多摩市）
• Musashimurayama Mitsukoshi (Mushashimurayama) 武蔵村山三越（東京都武蔵村山市）

Chiba Prefecture

• Chiba Mitsukoshi (Chiba Chūō-ku) 千葉三越（千葉市中央区）

Hokkaidō

• Sapporo Store (Sapporo Chūō-ku) 札幌店（札幌市中央区）

Tōhoku

Miyagi Prefecture

• Sendai Store (Sendai Aoba-ku) 仙台店（仙台市青葉区）

Chūbu

Aichi Prefecture

• Nagoya Sakae Main Branch (Nagoya Naka-ku) 名古屋栄本店（名古屋市中区）
• Hoshigaoka Mitsukoshi (Nagoya Chikusa-ku) 星ヶ丘三越（名古屋市千種区）

Niigata Prefecture

• Niigata Mitsukoshi (Niigata Nishibori-dōri) 新潟三越（新潟市西堀通）

Chūgoku

Hiroshima Prefecture

• Hiroshima Mitsukoshi (Hiroshima Naka-ku) 広島三越（広島市中区）

Shikoku

Kagawa Prefecture

• Takamatsu Mitsukoshi (高松三越)

Ehime Prefecture

• Matsuyama Mitsukoshi (松山三越)

Kyūshū

Fukuoka Prefecture

• Fukuoka Mitsukoshi (Fukuoka Chūō-ku) 福岡三越（福岡市中央区）

Kagoshima Prefecture

• Kagoshima Mitsukoshi (鹿児島三越)

Foreign branches

Asia

• PRC
  • Shanghai
  • Hong Kong (closed temporarly)
• Taiwan
  • Taipei: Xinyi New Life Square 4 stores, Taipei station, Taipei Nanjing 3 stores, Taipei Tianmu
  • Taoyuan: Taoyuan Station, Taoyuan Dayou
  • Hsinchu
  • Taichung
  • Chiayi
  • Tainan: Tainan Jhongshan, Tainan New Life Square
  • Kaohsiung

The stores in Taiwan are named Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), a collaboration between the Shin Kong Group (a large Taiwan conglomerate) and Mitsukoshi.

In 1930, Mitsukoshi opened the department store (京城三越) in downtown Seoul. Later, Samsung took over this store and was renamed Shinsegae in 1963.

Also, Mitsukoshi used to have its own department store in Dalian, China (大連三越), until the end of World War 2.

Europe

• France
  • Paris
• Germany

The German stores closed

• • Düsseldorf (closed 30th June 2009 mitsukoshi.co.jp)
  • Frankfurt (closed 31th December 2008 mitsukoshi.co.jp)
  • Munich (closed 31th December 2008 mitsukoshi.co.jp)
• Italy
  • Rome
• Spain
  • Madrid
• United Kingdom
  • London

North America

• Orlando, Florida, United States (at Epcot's Japan Pavilion, which Mitsukoshi hosts and operates, Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida) ^[2]

The closure of Mitsukoshi Hong Kong, Causeway Bay

Mitsukoshi Hong Kong, which is, as of 2006, one of the only three Japanese-owned department stores in Hong Kong, was opened in 1981. It was first located at 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay. In June 2006, Mitsukoshi Ltd. announced the closure of its Hong Kong store on 17 September, 2006 due to the redevelopment of Hennessy Centre. The store will relocate to another location in 2009.

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)
• Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (Chinese)