Shirokiya
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| Private | |
| Industry | retail |
| Founded | Tokyo, Japan (1662) |
| Headquarters | Honolulu, Hawaii |
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Number of locations
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1 |
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Key people
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Hikotaro Omura, founder Koji Hayashi, President and CEO Walter Watanabe, Board of director and Store Manager |
| Products | various |
| Revenue | $38 million (January 1, 2005) |
| Website | www.shirokiya.com |
Shirokiya (白木屋?) was one of Japan's oldest companies, as well as the largest retailer during the early 20th century. In the 1950s, it was purchased by another Japanese corporation and began an expansion overseas, primarily in Hawaii. However, in 2001, the company was largely dissolved. Today, the only remnant of the original company is the Shirokiya department store in Honolulu, a division of Shirokiya Holdings, LLC, a United States-based corporation.
Shirokiya, Inc. (the store) is overseen by a seven-person board, all of whom own a part of Shirokiya's parent company, Shirokiya Holdings, LLC. The CEO and President is Japanese native Koji Hayashi, who also oversees the few functions of the company that still remain in Japan. Director and Store Manager Walter Watanabe, as well as the remaining directors, oversee the bulk of the operations, also serving as store senior management.
Hikotaro Omura opened a dry goods store at Nihonbashi in Edo, (now Tokyo) in August 1662. Omura called the store Shirokiya Gofukuten, a name that would last until the 20th century. Over the next few hundred years, the store slowly expanded, and as Japan entered the Meiji era, Shirokiya and its main rival at the time, Mitsukoshi, expanded into selling clothing and other goods in 1886. In 1903, Shirokiya opened a western-style department store, followed by the creation of a larger store down the street eight years later.
The turning point for Shirokiya was a series of natural, financial and man-made disasters that devastated the company's fortunes. The first was the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 that completely destroyed the original department store building (it was then reconstructed using modern architecture ). This was followed a few years later by a major fire on December 16, 1932, which destroyed the larger building and caused 14 fatalities. Finally, Shirokiya's assets, centered mainly in Tokyo, were devastated during World War II and the subsequent occupation of Japan, whereas Mitsukoshi, spread throughout the nation, fared better.
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Wikipedia