Hankyu Umeda Main Store

photo by DVMG · CC BY 3.0

Opened in 1929, it was the world's first department store built inside a station.

Thirteen floors above ground and two basements, rebuilt between 2005 and 2012 (reopening on 21 November 2012) around a stated concept of a ‘theatre department store’. On the tenth floor, ‘Umeda Souq’, deliberately slanted aisles and demonstration counters give the impression of wandering through a bazaar among items chosen one by one by buyers travelling the world. Between the ninth and the twelfth floor there is a covered square 16 metres high, used for markets and events.

Founded on 15 April 1929 by the railway company Hankyu Dentetsu, it was the world's first ‘station department store’: the model of a shop built above or next to a railway station of the same company. In 2023 its annual turnover reached about 314 billion yen, second in Japan after Isetan Shinjuku.

ℹ️ Open 10:00–20:00, with some floors open later into the evening. Directly connected to Osaka-Umeda Station (Hankyu).

🚉 Osaka-Umeda · 3 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org

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