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Kinokuniya expands the focus of its US operations

October 27, 2007
By Ken Worsley


An article in Friday’s edition of the New York Times tells us that Kinokuniya has opened a new shop off Bryant Park in New York City (not too far from Times Square and immediately behind the New York Public Library), the firm’s ninth shop in the United States.

What’s different about this Kinokunia? The target market. Previously, Kinokuniya locations opened in the United States catered almost exclusively to the tastes of Japanese expats living in the New York area. This store, however, is stocked with English as well as Japanese books, and is a clear attempt to build the firm’s brand and reach amongst US consumers. What other factors might be behind the opening of this location? The Times tells us:

With just over 61,000 Japanese natives in the New York metropolitan area, according to the Consulate General of Japan, the niche focus of the old store, which is to close at the end of this year, limited its customer base. Given high rents at Rockefeller Center, said [director of Kinokuniya in New York Shigeru] Ono, “it was always a very tough business.”

I guess Rockefeller Center was that expensive.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Kinokuniya expands the focus of its US operations”

  1. Joe on October 28th, 2007 8:27 am

    I stopped going to the NY Kinokuniya when I discovered that there was a Book Off just a few blocks away…

  2. Ken Worsley on October 28th, 2007 9:34 pm

    Joe, I was actually wondering about Book Off. I know they had announced plans to move into the US market, but I haven’t been following it. Does the NY location operate in a similar fashion to the Japan-based shops?

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