What Seibu is known for
Seibu's Ikebukuro flagship traces to a 1940 relaunch by Yasujiro Tsutsumi; the 14-story store is among the world's largest department stores, with a food hall drawing about 70 million visitors a year.
The Ikebukuro store's roots go back to 1935, when a small department store called Kikuya opened near Ikebukuro Station. In 1940 Yasujiro Tsutsumi bought it, renamed it Musashino Department Store, and after the war reopened it as Seibu Department Store in a two-story building of about 1,500 square meters. Under Tsutsumi's son Seiji, the store expanded rapidly through the 1950s and 60s into one of Japan's largest department stores.
Today the Ikebukuro flagship, also called Seibu Ikebukuro Honten, is a 14-story building and one of the one of the largest department stores in the world by floor area. Its food hall spans two floors and is described as Tokyo's largest, part of a complex that draws an estimated 70 million visitors a year.
Seibu operates as Sogo & Seibu, a joint department-store group; Ikebukuro remains the group's flagship location in Tokyo's northwest, anchoring the station district alongside its longtime rival Tobu.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Tokyo fashion department store
Global
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