History of Select Shops

Tokyo hosts thousands of amazing select shops, and we introduce them on our SHOP DICTIONARY. Select shops are all over the world today. It is said that this business model was developed in Japan, and BEAMS and SHIPS (former Miura & Sons) are known to be one of the first select shops in Japan. But how did they establish the model?

The first store of BEAMS in Harajuku [Photo from asahi.com]

Only solo-brand boutiques existed before the 70’s. Pierre Fournier who is a founder of ANATOMICA opened a store “GLOBE” in Paris in 1975. Displaying “genuine” items discovered in the world in an unconventionally elegant manner, the shop quickly set the standard for what we now call “Select Shop”. It was the first European shop to sell the 501 jeans of LEVI’S that were pre-shrunk in the American laundry method. It was the very shop to have made Micky Mouse printed T-shirts fashionable to be worn in daily outfits. He found the T-shirts at Disney World in Florida and added them to his merchandising selection of the store. Today’s big players in the Japanese fashion retail industry like BEAMS were impressed and took this business model back to Japan. The system has been diversified dramatically in Japan and spread to the world.

Today, Tokyo has the most advanced select shop business in the globe. Find your favorite one from our SHOP DICTIONARY.