Isetan Shinjuku

instant_curation

A visit to the first floor of the Shinjuku Isetan department store, a place benchmarked by our country's department stores and fashion brands. Being the face of the department store, this is a must-visit location. Though I visited a week before Christmas, the Christmas decorations were minimal, likely due to the fact that Christmas is not a public holiday in Japan, unlike in Korea where department stores put more effort into Christmas displays. The first floor stage area featured a pop-up store by Tasaki, not too crowded, providing inspiration to our department stores that 'not all brands need to be filled'. Various brands of high jewelry and luxury handbags are curated together, with Gucci, Prada, Fendi handbags all in one space. If you're looking to buy a handbag, the first floor's handbag zone has a wide range of brands available. For a full line of a particular brand (shoes, handbags, RTW), visit their main store on a different floor. Isetan Seed on the first floor is a shockingly innovative space, incubating small brands needing promotion, from food to living. Despite its affordability, it exposes customers to new brands and promotes them effectively, a 'win-win-win' model for customers, brands, and Isetan that should be urgently introduced in our country. The first floor alone is markedly different from department stores in our country. More photos and writings on the blog (1.24)