Goldwin opens a The North Face flagship directly off Ikebukuro station
Goldwin's newest The North Face store opens directly off Ikebukuro station's east exit on October 24, nearly tripling its footprint in the district and betting on commuter footfall rather than mall family trade.
Goldwin has opened a new The North Face store at LINKS IKEBUKURO, a retail complex connected directly to the east exit of Ikebukuro station, the company said. The store, which opened on Saturday, is roughly 148 tsubo (about 490 square metres) — nearly three times the size of Goldwin's existing The North Face shop in the nearby Sunshine City mall, which runs to about 57 tsubo.
The new store carries The North Face's full range, Goldwin said: outdoor performance gear, a lifestyle-focused everyday line, kids' and maternity products, and The North Face Purple Label, the brand's fashion-leaning urban-outdoor line. It opens daily from 10am to 9pm.
The location is the story as much as the size. Where the Sunshine City store has built a family trade around parent-child outdoor styling since 2006, a station-direct entrance puts the brand in front of Ikebukuro's commuter flow instead — the same bet Yodobashi Camera made when it opened its own multimedia store in the LINKS IKEBUKURO complex in June. Goldwin said the new shop is meant to reach customers the mall store has not.
Ikebukuro remains one of Tokyo's busiest transfer hubs, and the station-front format gives The North Face a second, larger foothold in the district rather than a replacement for its mall anchor — a sign that outdoor retail in Japan is following fashion and electronics into direct station access, where footfall needs no car park or mall opening hours.