2010.10.07
Chronicling the birth of a new Komatsu Store—Part I: Shizumemono
Ginza Komatsu, which was closed in 2008 for rebuilding, is now under construction. However, before construction on the new building began, a ceremony was performed on September 7, 2010. On the roof of Ginza Komatsu was a shrine that had protected the building for many years. The …
2011.06.29
Chronicling the birth of a new Komatsu Store—Part III: Makoto Kaneko (construction site supervisor)
Ginza Komatsu is now under construction. During that process, the construction site is under the control of the project’s site supervisor, Makoto Kaneko. The Ginza Komatsu building will probably be Mr. Kaneko’s last professional project, so perhaps this job was predes…
2011.03.10
Chronicling the birth of a new Komatsu Store—Part II: Framework completion ceremony
On November 10, 2010, we held a framework completion ceremony (jotoshiki in Japanese) at the construction site where work is currently in progress. A Japanese framework completion ceremony is a ritual that is performed for the space where a building will stand. The ceremony has i…
2010.10.07
A new start for Komatsu Store
Komatsu Store is making a new start in preparation for the reopening of its new buildings, launching a blog in advance of the main website. The purpose of this blog is to make use of the time during construction of our new buildings to provide information to our customers while t…
2010.10.07
Why “Komatsu?”
Do you know where the Komatsu Store name comes from? The name of the company founder is Takeo Kosaka, so it would have been perfectly understandable if the business had been named “Kosaka Store.” So why is it called “Komatsu” instead of “Kosaka?̶…
2010.10.07
Providing customers with dreams and new cultural lifestyles
Today, Komatsu Store is run facing the fashionable and elegant Ginza district, but when it was founded it was getting its start in a Ginza that would be unrecognizable to most people today. Komatsu Store was established shortly after World War II, at a time that was still full of…
2010.10.07
Our small department store’s four virtues and fine-tuned service
In addition to the hospitality we show our customers, everyone at Ginza Komatsu makes a point to adhere to what we call “the four virtues” or “the four virtues for prosperity”—kindness, quickness, cleanliness, and thoughtfulness. Written down more than fif…
2010.10.07
An unexpected blessing
With the re-enactment of the Department Store Law in 1956, Komatsu Store was categorized as a mid-sized retailer, so to make a new start befitting its status, a decision was made to revamp the main store building, which had been in operation for ten years. A year of major constru…
2010.10.07
An avant-garde source of fashionable goods
Komatsu Store gained the reputation of being the first place to go to find something new. In 1978, the store underwent major remodeling in what was the beginning of the third stage of the store. With a name change to “Ginza Komatsu,” the store started promoting itself…
2010.10.07
Komatsu Store Christmas
In the winter of 1946, Komatsu Store began a new tradition for Ginza—the Christmas Sale. At the time, Christmas wasn’t as celebrated as commonly in Japan as it is today. At the busy time at the end of the year, many stores displayed signs like “Year-end Clearance Sale…
2010.10.07
Between art and entertainment
Since the remodeling done in 1987, Komatsu Store has had an art space on the first floor facing Ginza-dori. You might wonder why a small department store would have an art space or gallery, particularly in a conspicuous place like the entrance on the first floor, which is the par…
2010.10.07
The window that links us to our customers
If asked what a department store’s show window represents, many shopkeepers would reply immediately with an answer such as “It’s a ready tool for sales promotion costing the least amount of money.” That is certainly not incorrect. However, as far as Komatsu Stor…
2010.10.07
Ginza’s shrine in the sky
The rooftop of Komatsu Store comes with a Shinto shrine, situated right under a broad expanse of sky, belying the fact that it’s in the middle of a metropolis—the perfect spot for a shrine called Tenku Jinja (“Shrine in the Sky”). It is dedicated to the Shinto g…
