Kyoto's Kawaramachi OPA reopens under a renewed 'NEOPA' concept

Kawaramachi OPA, the fashion building at Kyoto's Shijo-Kawaramachi crossing, reopens on 19 September under a renewed concept called NEOPA, its operator OPA Co. said. The building, which opened in 1998, has refreshed 17 stores in the renewal, 11 of them entirely new to the site and six relocated within it.

The headline arrival is @cosme STORE's first Kyoto location, a try-before-you-buy cosmetics format taking the first floor. On the fifth floor, Tower Records is opening its third TOWER VINYL store nationwide, after Shibuya and Umeda, stocking around 16,000 new and used vinyl records, next to Ossi, a fan-merchandise megastore with more than 10,000 items making its first Kyoto appearance. The first-floor common areas have been redesigned around Kyoto motifs, including a dry-landscape-garden ceiling and stone paving, and a new exterior OPA sign marks the building at street level. A fashion show featuring around 30 models from the Kansai Collection Kyoto Kawaramachi School follows on 20 September.

OPA's renewal is a bet on a specific customer mix: a try-before-you-buy beauty format at street level and a dedicated record store on an upper floor, both aimed at younger, culturally engaged shoppers passing through one of Kyoto's busiest crossings. That two of the new tenants are opening their first Kyoto store, rather than repeating a format the neighbourhood already has, says more about how central Kyoto's station-front buildings are repositioning than the renewal's floor count does — format novelty, not just a refresh, is the pitch to younger and increasingly international foot traffic.