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109 (department store)

Coordinates: 35°39′34.36″N 139°41′56.44″E / 35.6595444°N 139.6990111°E / 35.6595444; 139.6990111
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Shibuya 109

109 (Ichi-maru-kyū) is a department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. The store is operated by SHIBUYA109 Entertainment Corporation, a subsidiary of the Tokyu Group.

History and description

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The building, located just across the street from Shibuya Station, opened in April 1979. The architect was Minoru Takeyama. Tokyu, the building's operator, designed the building as a "Fashion Community" containing small retail stores targeting the early-30s female consumer. Tokyu intended the store to compete with Seibu Department Stores, which was making inroads into the Shibuya area.[1]

The name of the building, 109, is a form of word play (goroawase, specifically numerical substitution) and is taken from the Japanese characters (meaning 10) and kyū (9) as in Tōkyū. The numbers 10 and 9 also signified the operating hours, which was 10AM to 9PM. The interior of the building is designed to move shoppers in a loop on each floor from the elevators past various shops. A movie theater was originally planned for the top floor, but the fire department would not grant approval due to emergency-evacuation routes not meeting appropriate standards. Although originally targeted at women in their 30s, the building later became more known as a sanctuary for young women from the gyaru subculture.[1][2]

The original emoji set from SoftBank Mobile (as used by iOS prior to the Unicode emoji standardisation) included one for Shibuya 109, . As a corporate icon, it was not assigned a standard Unicode code point, but it continues to be supported by Twemoji at its location in SoftBank's Private Use Area.[3]

Shibuya 109's collaboration with Ayumi Hamasaki, April 2023

Due to its prominent location in Shibuya, the building appears in various Japanese media like anime and video games; however, since 109 is a trademarked brand, the number is usually altered.

Collaboration with Ayumi Hamasaki

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In April 2023, the 109 building was used for Ayumi Hamasaki's "25th Anniversary Shibuya109 Campaign", showcasing the artist both on the tower and through participating stores.[4] Famed for being an inspiration for gyaru culture in the 2000s, Hamasaki collaborated with numerous brands for limited edition clothing, merchandise, and confectionary, along with a playlist of her music being used across the building. A ViVi representative described the event as "a perfect envisioning of Ayu's world", and "a treat for visitors, regardless of whether they're a big fan or not".[5]

Stores

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  • Shibuya 109 (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 1979
  • MAGNET by Shibuya 109 (Shibuya, Tokyo) - April 2018
    Opened as 109-2 in April 1979, renamed to 109Men's in March 2011 before being renamed once again to its current name.[6]
  • Shizuoka 109 (Shizuoka, Shizuoka) - October 2007
    Created in March 2006 as Shibuya 109 Dreams, later recreated into the current 109.[7]

References

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  • "SHIBUYA109 東京ガイド" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
  • "109Watch" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
  • "Elastic" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 27 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-24.

35°39′34.36″N 139°41′56.44″E / 35.6595444°N 139.6990111°E / 35.6595444; 139.6990111

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