Seibu Department Stores

The head store of Seibu Department Stores in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo

The Seibu Department Stores, Ltd. (株式会社西武百貨店, Kabushiki-gaisha Seibu Hyakkaten) is a Japanese department store. The first store to trade under the name opened its doors in 1949. Seibu is typical of Japanese department stores with a wide variety of stores doing business on several floors. The company is now a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings Co., Limited.

Japan

The Seibu Department Stores flagship store is located in Ikebukuro. In Tokyo, there are also stores in Shibuya and Yūrakuchō. There are 16 stores in the whole country, with about 5 billion dollars in annual sales. In addition to department stores, Seibu operates the specialty stores Loft, Shell garden, Parco and Muji. The Seiyu Group are companies of the Seibu Saison group.

Automobile imports

From 1960 until 1995, Seibu Department stores sold imported European and American cars. Competing with Yanase, Seibu sold Citroen, Saab, Chevrolet, Fiat, Ferrari, Holden, and Peugeot. It was originally called Western European Cars starting in 1963 until Seibu assumed operations as Seibu Motors in 1971. Successor company Shin Seibu Car Sales took over in 1995 and kept importing Citroëns until the company was dissolved in 2002.

Hong Kong

Seibu opened their first non-Japanese location in Hong Kong at Langham Place in but sold their operations to Dickson Concepts in 1996, but the store operated until September 2013. The location has since been occupied by Beauty Avenue.

Indonesia

Seibu Department store Building in Central Jakarta, Indonesia

The first Seibu in Indonesia was opened in 1996 located near a busy bus terminal, Blok M, in Jakarta. It occupies over eight levels of upscale shopping experience with an atrium at the centre. The department store is operated by ALatief Corporation, a company which also managed a major local department store, then called Pasaraya Blok M. The two department stores are adjacent and a pedestrian bridge connects the buildings. However, due to its location, Seibu has failed to attract its targeted market and was closed down several years after its opening. The previously building occupied by Seibu is now called the East Wing of Pasaraya Blok M before torn down and redeveloped into an office building.

Seibu re-enters the country in May 2007, occupying four levels of the west mall area of Grand Indonesia Shopping Town. Similar to its predecessor, Seibu is once again segmented for the Indonesia's upper class market, providing array of new brands and services. Now operated by Mitra Adiperkasa; the grand opening of store was held together with the mall in June 2009, despite store's operation began in 2007.

Malaysia

Sogo (KL) Department Store Sdn Bhd, TRX City Sdn Bhd and Lendlease announced that Seibu will open its first Malaysian store at The Exchange TRX.

It will span 250,000 square feet, featuring over 400-500 retail brands (100 of them are new brands entering Malaysia for the first time) across 4 levels and it will be the first international luxury department store in Malaysia to house various mix of contemporary fashion brands and Japanese fashion brands that are new to Malaysia, largest collection of children’s luxury fashion brands, and Malaysia's first Japanese food hall.

The opening date is currently unknown as the mall itself is still under construction.

United States

In 1962, Seibu opened a branch at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax in Los Angeles. It was the first Japanese department store in the mainland United States. Despite much publicity, the store attracted little more than curiosity and closed after only two years. The building was later occupied by Ohrbach's and is currently home to the Petersen Automotive Museum.

See also

• Sogo
• Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.

External links

• Template:Ja icon Seibu Department Stores
• Template:Ja icon Millennium Retailing