Matsuzakaya (松坂屋) (TYO: 8235, delisted) is a major Japanese department store chain operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. When the chain was an independent company, Matsuzakaya Co., Ltd. (株式会社松坂屋), it had its headquarters in Naka-ku, Nagoya.[1]
History
Established in 1611 in Nagoya by, it is one of the oldest department stores in the world. It was initially a modest wholesale manufactory of silk kimono and Japanese lacquerware. In 1736 the company expanded its business to the retail sale of cotton and linen kimono. A second store was opened in Kyoto in 1745. The old capital was at that time the only region producing high-quality kimono.
The store in Ueno at Shitaya Hirokoji was depicted in an ukiyo-e print from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo by Hiroshige II in 1856.
With the industrialisation during the Meiji era, Matsuzakaya store was changed in 1910 to a western-style department store.