Sakuraya closing business to be a part of Bic Camera
Sakuraya, one of the biggest electronics retail store chains in Japan closed business by the end of this February, and its facilities have become a part of BEST DENKI CO., LTD. (/ベスト電器) whose primary shareholder is Bic Camera, another big electronics store chain.
Sakuraya opened its business in 1946 and has steadily expanded its scale of business and became very popular chain nationwide. Yet recently the sales could not increase as before and Sakuraya had become a subsidiary of BEST DENKI, still it had no power as to keep vying with other competitors these years. Thus Sakuraya’s chain stores closed one after another in this February and by the 28th all of its 15 stores closed business.
Perosonally, I was kind of shocked at this news, for I was a frequent customer of Sakuraya since I had been a student. I often bought video games, such as Dragon Quest series and Final Fantasy series, which I have referred to on previous pages here sometimes. Actually, I clearly remember that , at Sakuraya Shinjyuku store , I bought DQ 1 and 2 of the original version of FC (Nintendo Family Computer) 23 years ago when I was a graduate student. The fact that those who were born when I bought DQ and FF have become adults and still those series are around and popular over generations even among current children is amazing , and such situations are like the stories of those fantasy gamea of ” maginificent chronicles” .
Therefore, 10 days before the closure of Sakuraya in Center Street of Shibuya, I went there and bought some video games including FF 13 the newest title which I wrote about .http://www.tenkai-japan.com/2009/12/23/ffx%e2%85%a2-hit-1-million-sold-mark-in-one-day/ These items were very inexpensive due to the store-closing sale, which made me a little happy. There were a lot of customers even on that day,which showed the remaining popularity of Sakuraya.
And on the Feb.28th, technically speaking “the final day ” of Sakuraya, I happened to be in Shinjyuku, and dropped in “ex” Sakuraya Higashiguchi Ekimae-ten (/さくらや東口店, Sakuraya Store in front of the East Exit of Shinjyuku Station), which now has become a Bic Camera’s store. That building had been a symbol of the east exit area of the station, and the big billborad of “さくらや” （Sakuraya）was still set at its top. Yet the building’s first floor had a new sign board of “ビックカメラ オープン “（Bic Camera Open）and that one building has both boards of “Sakuraya” and “Bic Camera” at the same time for a while, which represents this turning point, is interesting to reflect our dynamic electronics market.
However, Sakuraya Higashiguchi had already been closed on 25th, so Bic Camera had already started its business there. And I found B1 floor was still under construction and went down to the B2 floor of “games & DVD, Bluray softwares”. I bought some games and movie DVDs thete in token of my visit to that new store of Bic Camera. And Iasked the staffer there when that new store had opened. The two staffers there said, ” We opened this store the day before yesterday(26th; the next day of the closure of Sakuraya Higashiguchi) , but as for this floor of games and DVDs, we just opened today ! And B1 which is going to be opened on Mar. 2nd will be a floor of wines. ” So, being surprised to learn I had just done shopping on the very opening day of the game floor of the store, I thanked them saying ,” I will come again! ” . Their reply of “We are all looking forward to your future orders. We are much obliged to you! ” was comfprtable in my ears… I am also a frequent customer of Bic Camera which is good.
The history of one popular electronics store chain has ended, which has happily been passed over to the hand of other companies. Thus I hope to keep seeing energy of such businesses and going-on survival of their future along with warm supports of passionate valued customers.
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