Daimaru

The Daimaru, Inc.
株式会社大丸

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Former type	Public KK
Industry	Retail
Fate	Merged with Matsuzakaya
Successor	Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co., Ltd.
Founded	Kyoto, Japan (April 16, 1920 (1920-04-16))
Defunct	February 28, 2010 (2010-02-28)
Headquarters	Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
Products	Daimaru department stores Daimaru Peacock supermarkets
Revenue	467.0 billion yen (2009)
Number of employees	3,292 (2007)
Website	daimaru.co.jp/english/index.html

Daimaru (大丸) is a Japanese department store chain, principally located in the Kansai region of Japan. The chain is operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. At one time Daimaru was an independent company, The Daimaru, Inc. (株式会社大丸), headquartered in Chūō-ku, Osaka.

History

Daimaru traces its history to Dai-Monjiya, a dry goods store in Kyoto founded by Shimomura Hikoemon Masahiro in 1717. The name "Daimaru" was first used for a store in Nagoya called Daimaruya, which opened in 1728.

The chain was incorporated in 1907 and reincorporated as Daimaru Dry Goods K.K. in 1920, changing its name to Daimaru in 1928. For several years in the 1960s, Daimaru was the largest retailer in Japan. In the late 1970s, Daimaru was the first Japanese department store to open in Thailand. However, its branches in Hong Kong closed in 1998, and other branches in Melbourne Central (in direct competition with Myer and David Jones Limited) and the Gold Coast in Australia closed in 2002 after nearly a decade of low profits, followed by Singapore in 2003.

Daimaru is the landmark of Shinsaibashi, Osaka as a modern architecture built on 1922

Daimaru in Kobe

In 1960, Daimaru established a subsidiary called Peacock Sangyo. Now known as Daimaru Peacock, it operates 49 supermarkets in the Greater Tokyo Area, 28 in the Kansai region and 8 in the Chūbu region.

In 1998, Daimaru entered into a partnership with the French grand couturier Dominique Sirop to produce Dominique Sirop for Daimaru, a high fashion prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) label.

Kobe Daimaru at night

Locations (Japan)

• Shinsaibashi, Osaka - 7-1, Shinsaibashi Itchome, Chūō-ku. The main Daimaru department store, founded as Matsuya in 1726. Along Mido-suji. Daimaru's corporate headquarters were located nearby, at 4-10, Minamisenba Yonchome.
• Umeda, Osaka - 1-1, Umeda Sanchome, Kita-ku. Opened in 1983. At South Gate Building in the south of Osaka Station.
• Kyoto - 79, Shijo Takakura, Shimogyo-ku Kyoto. Opened in 1912. Along Shijo Dori, north-east side of Karasuma Station.
  • Yamashina - 91, Takehana Takenokaido-cho, Yamashina-ku Kyoto. South of Yamashina Station.
• Kobe - 40, Akashicho, Chūō-ku, Kobe. Opened in 1927. Located in the south of Kyukyoryuchi-Daimarumae Station.
  • Shin-Nagata - Nagata-ku, Kobe
  • Suma - Suma-ku, Kobe
  • Ashiya - near JR West Ashiya Station
• Tokyo - 9-1, Marunouchi Itchome, Chiyoda-ku, inside the new North Tower of the Tokyo Station Twin Towers. Opened in 2007.
  • Urawa PARCO - Urawa-ku, Saitama
  • LaLaPort Yokohama - Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama
• Sapporo - 4-7, Kitagojonishi, Chūō-ku, inside Sapporo Station. Opened in 2003.
• Stores operated by subsidiary companies in Fukuoka and Nagasaki (Hakata Daimaru K.K.), Shimonoseki, Tottori, Imabari, and Kōchi.

Daimaru at Sapporo Station, Hokkaido

External links

• Daimaru official website
• Daimaru official website (Japanese)