Author: Mei Ling Tan

Japanese anti-brand retailer Muji will open a new global concept store in Tokyo’s Ginza district next April.

Besides a seven-storey Muji Ginza retail store, the company will open a Muji Hotel, a gallery and community space and a Muji-branded Diner on the site. It will close its existing standalone Tokyo flagship store at Yurakucho on December 2.

Satoru Matsuzaki, president and representative director of Muji’s parent company Ryohin Keikaku, says the new Muji Ginza flagship will be a global statement for the brand with a focus on food.

“Muji wants to connect the relationships between people and people, people and society, and people and nature through its goods and services,” Matsuzaki said in a statement.

“Among the three most basic of human needs (clothing, food, and housing), food is perhaps the most critical, essential part of life. City dwellers, however, have become far removed from the farms, ranches and fisheries, where the food is actually produced, and have come to consume food as nothing more than mere merchandise. Many of them know neither the producers, the land nor the sea that grew the food.

“The new global flagship store will dedicate more goods and services to food. We hope it helps customers think about the producers and production areas, taking another look at the relationship between food and people.”

A dedicated food area on the store’s ground floor features vegetables and fruits delivered directly from the farms near Tokyo. The store will sell freshly squeezed juice or desserts made from in-store fruits. There will be a space to eat on site and the store will sell teas, spice and fruits by measure.

A Muji Diner will open in the first basement level, focusing on simple food and featuring a salad bar. Dishes of fish, meat or wild game in season will be available for individual diners and groups.

Muji Hotel Ginza and Atelier Muji Ginza

Described as “anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap” the Muji Hotel Ginza promises “a great sleep at the right price”. It will be the third Muji Hotel after properties in Shenzhen and Beijing, featuring 79 guest rooms.

The Atelier Muji Ginza will open on the building’s sixth floor, beneath the hotel, intended as a “multi-purpose facility of design and culture”.  It will comprise two galleries for exhibitions featuring craftwork and design, a salon where people can talk over coffee or drinks, a library of books related to design and arts and a lounge for events and workshops.

To bridge the gap between the old flagship’s closure and the new Ginza concept’s opening, a mini pop-up store is planned for Marronnier Gate Ginza – half way between the two sites – trading for three months from December 12. It will stock items selected from Muji’s 7000 lifestyle basics range.