Gap opens its first Asakusa store, betting on Tokyo's tourist crowds
Gap Japan is opening its first Asakusa store on 18 September, on the third floor of ROX 3G — a bet that Tokyo's densest tourist street can support a mainstream Western casualwear chain.
Gap will open its first store in Asakusa on 18 September, taking the third floor of the ROX 3G building in Taito Ward, Tokyo, Gap Japan Corporation said. The Gap Asakusa ROX store opens at 10:30am and is the brand's first location in the district, according to the company.
The store will carry women's, men's, kids' and baby ranges alongside accessories including bags and hats, Gap Japan said, and will include a customisation counter offering embroidery and patch work on purchased items. Autumn ranges will lean on the retailer's proprietary CashSoft fabric and corduroy pieces, the company said. Trading hours are 10:30 to 21:00.
Asakusa draws some of Tokyo's heaviest tourist foot traffic, built around Sensoji temple and the Nakamise shopping street, but international mall-format apparel chains have been thin on the ground next to the area's souvenir shops and small independents. Format retailers have been opening around ROX and the wider Asakusa shopping streets through this year, and Gap's move fits that pattern — a wager that inbound visitors and Tokyoites alike will treat a mainstream Western casualwear chain as a destination stop, the kind of tenant-mix bet Japan's tourist-district landlords are increasingly willing to back.