writer Kenji Hall

photographer Kohei Take

Tokyo’s Isetan department store has found success by treating its customers like royalty and turning shopping into an experience. Monocle hands over its credit card to a kimono-clad sales associate. what’s in store?

expO April 2016 n-º92

issue 92 — 315 shopping as pure spectacle

Tokyo has many places to shop for bedding but few that will Isetan is actually two buildings: the seven-storey main book you for a one-on-one 45-minute session with a profes- store focusing on women’s fashion and household goods and an sional pillow fitter such as Naomi Suzuki. In a small, private eight-storey annex that’s dedicated to menswear. They are room at Isetan department store in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district – owned by Tokyo-based operator Isetan , formed in near the shelves of Ralph Lauren and Yves Delorme bed linen 2008 when two major Japanese department store chains merged. and a limited-offer ¥1.5m (€12,000) waterbed –S uzuki will take The company employs about 12,300 people and has 74 shops precise measurements of the length and curvature of your neck across but Shinjuku Isetan, with about 2,500 employees, and jot down notes about your sleeping habits as if she were is still the biggest draw and the top money-maker. It rakes in diagnosing a medical condition. She will explain the differences ¥258bn (€2.1bn) annually, which is roughly 20 per cent of between foam, charcoal tubes and buckwheat-hull stuffing, dim Isetan Mitsukoshi’s overall department-store revenues. the lights to simulate bedtime and have you try a few of the 90 There’s a lot that the staff need to squeeze in before the shop ready-made pillows on a mattress that feels similar to what you opens at 10.30 sharp. Sales targets and logistics have to be sleep on at home. Suzuki might even suggest building your own reviewed, shelves restocked, floors and countertops wiped down. pillow or let you take home a tester for a week. On the ground floor of the main building, 80 women who work Chances are that you’ll agree with her when she says that at the cosmetics counters are doing smile warm-ups. They pair ¥20,000 (€160) is a small price to pay for a good night’s rest. “I off and take turns complimenting each other and grinning and tell customers that most people shift 20 to 30 times in their sleep giggling in embarrassment, before their manager reminds them 01 at night so there’s a good reason to consider a customised pillow about the rising number of complaints and sends them away for with soft and firm parts,” says Suzuki. some last-minute feather-dusting. This is how Isetan hopes to turn standard commercial transac- Not long after the front doors open the crowd is thickest in tions into something special. It’s as much about treating everyday women’s shoes. The department is anchored by Yuko Takashima, walk-ins like vips as it is helping customers sift through the shop’s a fast-talking 23-year veteran who has been in shoes and bags for vast inventory to find a product that’s an exact fit.A lot has changed most of her career. She is second in command of a section that since Isetan, which was founded as a kimono shop in 1886, moved stocks more brands, sells more items and makes more money to Shinjuku in the 1930s and began its transformation into a retail than any other in Japan’s department-store industry. Women, standout. But the store’s basic role remains the same. “Our busi- she says, come for the variety: the stockroom holds more than ness was built on providing cradle-to-grave products and services,” 30,000 pairs of shoes, a sprawling collection that includes Pradas says general manager Masaaki Takano, who has been with the and Manolo Blahniks and hundreds of other big-name and company for 35 years. “There’s probably nothing comparable to obscure brands. There’s also kitsch. In the corner – next to a what we do in any other country.” dizzying array of insoles, gel pads and patches for toes, arches, Isetan is not the oldest of Japan’s venerable department insteps and heels – cobblers at Shoe Kitchen do repairs while stores: that title belongs to Mitsukoshi (and the two share the dressed in chef whites and toques. same owner). But there is no other department store that brings Takashima is constantly reminding her staff of 350 about the in more money or asserts a stronger pull on the spendthrift and importance of listening. “Customers confide in us about their fashion-aware than Isetan’s flagship shop. It gets 25 million shoe-related complaints and we pass on the information to our visitors a year. product developers, who can use it to improve Isetan’s in-house The shop has to be a generalist – selling wedding dresses, shoe brand Number Twenty-One,” she says. wristwatches, meals for weaning infants, home renovations, Some Isetan customers know exactly where to get what they funeral services and Borsalino hats – but also stay ahead of need. Masako Fukushima, who has been coming for decades, is trends. You could spend a lifetime browsing here while also in the basement looking at boxes of fruit to send as a condolence finding what you need for every occasion and season along the gift. But plenty of customers are like Kazushige Ishii, who has way. Such is the power of the Shinjuku Isetan that brands will come with his girlfriend, Emi Yanagawa, to get her new shoes. test-release products here before selling anywhere else. It’s “We knew we couldn’t go wrong at Isetan. We assumed that we attained this status amid Shinjuku’s grit of neon signs, sex shops would find what we were looking for if we came here,” he says. and budget business hotels. In a crowded field of fast-fashion This is where Isetan’s corps of assistant managers come in. retailers, boutiques, homegrown brands and e-commerce sites, They see to it that people have reasons to buy. Only four years Isetan offers hope that Japan’s struggling department-store on the job, Kiri Kuramoto advises 30 sweet shops on the best sector can stay relevant. ways to inspire gift-giving. Food is vital to Isetan’s business and 02 316 — issue 92 issue 92 — 317 03 04 11 12

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01 well-organised 20 the stockroom contains eyewear section 30,000 women’s shoes 02 Men’s watches are 21 happy customers handled with care 22 shinjuku Isetan general 03 hats for every season manager Masaaki Takano 04 uniformed attendants 23 rucksacks being managing the taxi line straightened out the depachika – meaning department-store basement – is usually 05 isetan’s trademark tartan 24 Masako Fukushima is the shop’s last chance to ring up a sale before a customer heads 06 shinjuku Isetan opened an Isetan regular for business in 1933 25 Busy shoeshiner in home. “The display cases constantly need to be rearranged so 07 Kimonos also come in denim the menswear annex people will be enticed,” she says. and leather 26 chicken skewers at the Isetan’s top brass try their best to promote the store as a 08 isetan’s shopping-only policy ‘depachika’ “fashion museum” where a visit doesn’t always involve going 09 impulsive buys on the food 27 take a coffee- or floor are inevitable champagne-break home weighed down with tartan-print shopping bags. The staff 10 sales staff are called stylists 28 always-helpful aren’t salespeople: they’re stylists. They can earn fancier titles by 11 where to start? information-desk attendant taking the initiative to master an ever-changing line-up of brands. 12 naomi Suzuki, professional 29 Measurements being pillow fitter taken for a less-than- There are sommeliers for wines but also towel sommeliers, sleep 13 plastic food displays on the happy customer advisers, shoe counsellors, kimono consultants, baby concierges restaurant floor 30 relaxing on the rooftop and a birth-to-death protocol guru who can tell you how much 14 tasting session at the terrace cash to give at a wedding and how long to wait before visiting the alcohol counter 31 employees getting an 15 gloves go on before products update graves of deceased family members. come out 32 Morning staff meeting Upstairs, in trendy womenswear, Natsue Suzuki is dressing 16 Men’s shoes for every taste 33 some wine bottles go back mannequins to a soundtrack of chirping birds. After six years 17 the store is wiped down daily to 1860 here she has developed a unique look: white-leather halter top 18 crest on the door of the main 34 Men’s collars come in entrance every possible variation over a red sweater, baggy jeans and a gold triangle jutting from 19 isetan men’s annex the middle of one ear. “When I first joined, this shop didn’t do ‘Residence’ floor cutting-edge fashion,” she says. It seems unthinkable now: Suzuki is surrounded by brands such as Hyke, Toga, Mackintosh and msgm, and she hosts fitting sessions for vip customers in a room hidden behind a mirror. “There’s a storewide effort to make the service we provide more personal,” she says. At the border between the two worlds it’s customary for the staff to stop and bow. Once they’re on the shop side they keep backyard In an industry where the revenues have fallen by a third from a activities to themselves. They speak in code, referring to bathroom peak of ¥9trn (€73bn) over the past two decades, novelty sells. breaks as going to the “T-junction” and to their lunch hour as Isetan does this with pop-ups, demonstrations and dioramas in “number one” or “number two” (which some might suggest would oversized picture frames that get refreshed every two weeks or so. be more suitable monikers for those toilet trips). Every department When Isetan renovated the main Shinjuku store in 2013 it desig- has a secret song to notify the staff when they have achieved the nated more space near the escalators for temporary displays. Here day’s sales target: Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 is a popular choice. you find sample kitchen layouts byT oyo Kitchen Style, books on When the staff hear Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head they know Japanese folk art and tapestry-covered deer heads by artist what the weather’s doing and start covering shopping bags with Frederique Morrel. There are also coffee counters and a glass- plastic covers and slipping in a word about slippery pavements. enclosed classroom where artists run workshops for children. Isetan’s most cherished customers are the otokuisama: big As successful as the shop is, its sales have slid 10 per cent from spenders and loyal regulars. There’s nothing the staff won’t do for the early 1990s. Fashion retailers Beams, United Arrows and Ships, them. Looking for custom-made shoes? Isetan will fly a shoemaker as well as fast-fashion brands, are making it harder for Isetan to from Italy to take measurements and bring him back for a person- woo new customers. Its strategy has been to go on the offensive: alised fitting (the bill: ¥3m, or €24,000).N eed your shoes shined? since 2012 it has opened small shops that are pared-down versions The shop will send someone to polish every pair in your closet. of the Shinjuku store. What started as an experiment in cosmetics In the men’s annex is Shinya Shimazaki, who has put in 24 shops for young women is now an expanding network of speciality years with the company and keeps the otokuisama happy. Last shops selling menswear and womenswear at Haneda Airport and year he organised three parties for these special customers; in downtown Tokyo and Nagoya. when he talks about it, his voice softens to a whisper. “We want It’s hard to fully appreciate Isetan’s polished exterior until to get to know our customers personally,” he says. The financial you peek into the stockroom – what staff call the “backyard”. crisis was a pivotal moment. “We used to keep our distance,” Squeezed into dim hallways are half-unpacked boxes, hanging says Shimazaki. “Now we think about how we can make people clothes covered in plastic and cubbyhole lockers. The walls are love everything about this store.” unpainted, hopelessly scuffed and plastered with reminders At closing time, the song Machi ga Kureru Toki (When the City about the mechanics of the perfect Isetan smile. It’s the only Goes to Bed) begins to play. Staff are still busy seeing off customers. place in the building where staff can let down their guard.A s the Outside the men’s annex it’s dark when Genya Shimoyama, from day’s second shift braces for the mid-afternoon rush there will the business-suits department, accompanies a young couple to the be staff meetings in the stairwells, women selling leftover bento front door. He’s one of the lucky ones; the stragglers might not meals from the food floor, men hawking discounted handbags leave for another couple of hours. Says Shimoyama: “We don’t and tables piled high with knockdown designer shoes. kick customers out: we wait until they’re ready to go.” — (m) 34 328 — issue 92 issue 92 — 329