Department store in Nagoya ends 400-year history

A 400-year-old department store in Nagoya has closed.

Maruei Department Store, which opened as Juichiya kimono shop in 1615 and was renamed in 1943 when it merged with another retailer, was once the largest stores of its kind in Western Japan. It was hit by hard economic times in the early 1990s but was kept operational until sales dropped to an all-time low last year.

Under new ownership since being acquired by Nagoya pharmaceuticals firm Kowa in 2010, the store failed to overcome the rise of e-commerce and became obsolete, with some observers noting a base inconsistency in its various product lineups. Kowa is planning to reopen a commercial facility on the same site several years from now.

Yoshimitsu Hamajima, the president of Maruei Department Store, thanked the crowds of well-wishers who showed up for the grand closing ceremony.