Department Store shopping in Tokyo
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A
Isetan
In addition to its stunning food hall in the basement, Isetan boasts an entire separate building for men’s fashions in addition to several floors of homewares and ladies’ designer goods. Check out the store’s I-club, a free service that provides English-speaking staff for visiting shoppers. The membership desk for this service is located on the 6th floor near the entrance to the Isetan Men’s building.
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B
Matsuya
Ginza is the poshest shopping district in Tokyo. The quintessential Ginza experience is a department store; Mitsukoshi has pride of place, but Matsuya is a long-standing favourites, too. Tucked in between some of the more imposing facades are more simple pleasures such as fine papers and shelves stacked full of ingenious toys. Shopping options here really do reflect the breadth and depth of the city’s consumer culture, equal parts high fashion glitz and down-to-earth dedication to craft.
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C
Takashimaya
Takashimaya’s branch on New York’s Fifth Avenue is renowned for its cutting-edge Japanese-inspired interior, but the design of the Tokyo flagship store (1933) tips its pillbox hat to New York’s Gilded Age. There is floor after floor of international luxury brands, a Japanese craft and kimono section on the 7th floor and uniformed female elevator operators – once commonplace in Tokyo – who still announce each floor in high-pitched sing-song voices.
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D
Tōkyū Hands
This is Tokyo’s favourite DIY store, with hardware and materials for home projects. What defines it is the sheer diversity of eccentric goodies: clocks that tick backwards, hand-blown glass pens and vibrating reflexology slippers. This is eight floors of oddball, functional stuff you never realised you needed. If you hit one store during your stay, let this be it. There’s another huge store in Shinjuku’s Takashimaya Times Square.
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E
Mitsukoshi
Though there are branches of this department store in Ginza and Ebisu, the Nihombashi branch has the cachet as Japan’s first department store –it even has a subway station named after it. Check out the floor dedicated to the art of the kimono or peruse the morsels in the depachika (department store food floor). For the full effect, arrive at 10am for the bells and bows that accompany each day’s opening.
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F
Loft
Loft’s multiple levels of housewares, accessories, travel supplies and stationery are more compact than at Tōkyū Hands and, aimed towards younger shoppers, the bias leans towards fun and oddities. Stylish bedding and blob-shaped vases distract the shopper from titanium jewellery and trendy make-up before the kawaii plastic toys and mobile-phone charms do ‘em in. Another branch is in Ikebukuro.
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G
Don Quijote
The Roppongi branch of this jam-packed, bargain castle is where Japanese kids of all ages come to stock up for fun. Don Quijote sells everything from household goods and electronics to French-maid costumes, usually at cut-rate prices. You’ll need to hack your way through cluttered aisles, but it’s possible to find some really funky gifts here.
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H
Mitsukoshi - Chūō-ku
Tokyo's oldest department store was originally modelled on that London bastion of commerce, Harrods. Mitsukoshi is a posh, polished leviathan filled to the gills with tempting wares. Look for the Mitsukoshi lion at the corner entrance, a popular local meeting spot. There's also the original store in Nihombashi.
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Tōbu
This is one of Ikebukuro's two big department stores, with a whopping 15 floors. Of particular note are the larger-than-average-sized togs (by Tokyo standards) to be found in the central building. This doesn't mean an availability of plus sizes, but that some items will be larger than a typical small.
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J
Sunshine City
Billed as a 'city in a building', Sunshine City is another sprawling shopping centre where, for a small fee, you can get catapulted in a speeding elevator to the 60th-floor observatory to peer out across the Tokyo skyline. If you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji beyond the haze.
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K
Parco
Parco, divided into several stores located in the middle of Shibuya, carries contemporary designs for a very young crowd. In Parco I, you’ll find a good magazine and bookstore on the 7th floor and edgy shops on floors three to six. There’s another Parco in Ikebukuro.
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L
Odakyū
The 16-floor behemoth of a department store that sits atop Shinjuku Station, Odakyū contains several restaurant floors, high-end boutiques and low-budget accessories shops, as well as just about anything you'd need to live inside the station for the next ten years.
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M
Marui Young
You can't swing a coat hanger in Shinjuku without hitting a Marui (look for the Marui logo: OIOI), as there's a passel of its speciality branches here. Marui Young is the place to start if you want to buy Goth-Lolita garb with the local whitest-shade-of-pale girls.
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N
Matsuzakaya
Ginza is the poshest shopping district in Tokyo and Matsuzakaya is a long-standing favourite.
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