Competition with Marui will be tough !

TOKYO (Nikkei)–Lumine Co.’s debut in Tokyo’s posh Ginza-Yurakucho district will accelerate the area’s ongoing makeover from an exclusive commercial neighborhood into a more approachable shopping destination that draws younger crowds.

The mall operator said Friday that it will open a large shopping facility to replace a Seibu department store slated to shut down at the end of December. Lumine reached a basic tenant agreement with the building’s owners, Asahi Shimbun Co. and Shochiku Co. (9601).

“By moving into Yurakucho, we hope to boost Lumine’s overall brand value,” Lumine Chairman Toshio Hanazaki told The Nikkei.

Lumine customers on average spend about 10,000 yen on clothing each visit, substantially less than per-customer sales at department stores. Some tenants are formerly obscure fashion houses that Lumine helped turn into popular brands. Lumine is popular among women in their 20s and 30s in greater Tokyo who are drawn to its reasonable prices and originality.

Lumine hopes to have 90-100 tenants at the new facility when it opens its doors next autumn. Under the deal, Lumine will lease 22,000 sq. meters of floor space. Although the current Seibu department store mainly sells apparel, the new facility will house shops selling cosmetics and household goods, as well as supermarkets and restaurants.

The shops will likely open at 10 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., offering longer hours than those of the existing department store. Lumine aims to generate more than 20 billion yen in annual sales at the new facility, double the amount logged by Sogo & Seibu Co. at the site.

The Ginza-Yurakucho district, home to department stores and designer-brand shops, is going through a change. Department stores continue to suffer as consumers shun high-priced goods, with the five players there logging a roughly 30% drop in combined sales over a decade to 135.1 billion yen in fiscal 2009.

Meanwhile, the area has attracted droves of young people since the arrival of several fast-fashion and low-priced outlets. U.S. discount clothier Forever21 set up shop inside of Matsuzakaya Co.’s department store in Ginza this spring, and volume electronics retailer Laox Co. (8202) is slated to follow next month. Fast Retailing Co. (9983), whose flagship location for its Uniqlo casual apparel business is in Ginza, plans to open an even larger store in the neighborhood next year.

Dear Fashion in Japan fan,

Early Spring has arrived in the stores and in the streets (when the days are warm enough). The Spring Japanese trendsetters are back with many fresh ideas of materials, prints and styles !

You will find below this Spring “fashion keywords” from the Fashion Magazines. Of course, the best way to understand the trends is to see them ! And that is the purpose of FIJ which is gaining in popularity with over 3 millions pages viewed per month !

If you want to see the Fashion Leaders and Trendsetters in “LIVE”, we can organize you a customized Tokyo Fashion Tour www.tokyofashiontour.com Commented and guided shopping in Tokyo

Hope you enjoy ! And again Open_Your_Eyes & Imagine_The_Future with http://www.fashioninjapan.com

Talk to you next month,

Loic Bizel

Women Fashion Keywords

Outer : masculine trench coat, blouson, fur blouson, elegant thin leather blouson, animal print coat, short jacket

Tops : compact jacket, spring tweed, long tweed jacket, border jacket, red tartan check shirt, American traditional cardigan, light wool cardigan, waist buttoned cardigan, cardigan with belt, sparkle knit, shiny dolman knit, sparkle knit, tight knit, mini knit, gilet, tweed one-piece, red tunic one-piece, mini one-piece, print one-piece and blouse, lace dress

Bottoms : tight skirt, easy pants, balloon bottom, denim, sarrouel pants, silk sarrouel pants, black sarrouel, “leggi-pants”, tuck pants

Shoes : high heel shoes, high heels black pumps, cruise shoes, wedge sole, wedge soles with natural material, wedge soles with details, flat shoes, flat shoes with studs and secret sole, rhinestone mesh sandals, enamel sandals, platform sandals, nude color shoes, beige tone shoes, clear shoes, shoes with bijoux, shoes with sequin

Accessories : Brooch, stole, big choker, stone rings, flat rings, plastic rings, silver rings, ribbon shape jewelry, belt, greige small leather goods, long shoulder bag, sunglasses, fur cap

Materials : tweed, leather, metal & bijoux, lace, silver sequin, ribbon, elegant pearl

Colors, patterns : red, pop color, navy, gray, white, greige, creamy beige, gold beige x black, pink beige x navy, happy girly pink, spicy & elegant gray, sexy & mode navy, cool silver, flowers prints, border prints, leopard print

Style< : happy color tweed compact jacket, up town conservative, rock tweed with studs, red knit x blue denim/boyfriend jeans, sporty & preppy, colored spice accent, mannish silhouette, short length border top x wide pants, long border x slim bottoms, layered shirt x gilet x roll-up pants, layered turtleneck x jumper skirt x stole, layered trench coat x cardigan x tank pants, layered no color jacket x min skirt x leggings, waist mark, vintage, sexy sporty, feminine military, resort ethnic, prints, natural style, long T-shirt x “leggi-pants”, spangles for daytime wear, cute rock style with studs

and much more on www.fashioninjapan.com

Men Fashion Keywords

Outer : napoleon jacket, jean jacket, track jacket, embroidered jacket, baseball jacket, pale tone denim jacket, G-1 jacket, Beaufort jacket, swing top, M-65 field jacket, Barbour oiled jacket, mods jacket,G-9 swing top, leather outer, mountain parka, down vest, leather down vest, gray parka, nylon parka, 2-tone mountain parka, sweat parka, hooded leather blouson, leather blouson, windbreaker, short leather blouson, military zip-up blouson, nylon blouson, nylon parka, riding blouson, sheep skin blouson, relaxed suede blouson, rugged leather blouson, American classic pea coat, nylon stand collar coat

Tops : border T-shirt, buttoned neck T-shirt, color leopard T-shirt, American casual T-shirt, shirts with studs, shirts with crystals, dot prints shirts, 70’s print shirts, Oxford shirt, check shirt, denim shirt, chambray shirts, selvedge shirts, color cardigan, cardigan with colorful patterns, knit cardigan, work vest, hunting vest, hooded vest, border t-shirt, tank top, tops with sequin, high gauge knit, no-sleeve sweat

Bottoms : Cropped denim, used denim, skinny and vintage denim, decoration denim, luxury denim with studs, denim with paint, hard damage denim, used denim, ice washed denim, all-in-one denim, set up denim, cropped denim, black denim, patchwork denim, indigo denim, rigid denim, velour pants, cropped pants, sarrouel pants,  work pants, painter pants, military pants, wool slacks pants, bandana print shorts

Shoes : loafers shoes, rubber sole shoes, business formal shoes, postman shoes, lace-up shoes, skate shoes, mesh shoes, studs sneakers, colored and printed low tech sneakers, high cut volume sneakers, high cut sneakers with fringes, white sneakers, leather boots

Accessories : studs belt, stars studs belt, candy color studs belt, panama hat, baseball cap, straw hat, bandana, pearl cufflinks, bracelet, silver rings, check tie, zipped cotton canvas bag, back pack, tote bag, Boston bag

Materials : denim, velour, leather, studs

Colors, patterns : black, gray, red, dark brown, navy, green, olive, college print, stars prints, bandana prints

Style : relaxed & marine mix, double leather rider’s jacket x V-neck T-shirt, double leather rider’s jacket x check shirt, single leather rider’s jacket x stripped shirt, single leather rider’s jacket x cropped pants, color rider’s jacket x high tone color sneakers, single leather jacket x mariniere, trench coat x denim, 4 pockets coat x denim, olive green hooded jacket x denim, navy jacket x denim, surf parka x denim, check shirt x denim, black shirt x denim, navy V-neck knit x denim, black cardigan x denim, layered style, sandal x socks, 1-mile wear style, street mix, military mix, old work mix, sporty, tailored