Karuizawa · Prince Shopping Plaza

photo by lazy fri13th · CC BY 2.0

photo by Daderot · CC0

Opened in 1995, in ’97 it brought the outlet format to Japan: the first in the country.

Visitors walk past about 240 shops over 42,000 square metres, along a route expanded in seven phases from 1995 to today. It began as ‘West’, for guests of the Prince hotels; in 1997, with the opening of ‘East’, it introduced the outlet format (among the first of its kind in Japan), and today, by floor area and footfall, it is the largest resort-style shopping centre in the country.

Opened in July 1995 as the ‘West’ area serving the Prince hotels south of Karuizawa Station, the centre introduced the outlet format in 1997 with ‘East’, following the wave of discounted sports brands then arriving from the United States. Later expansions brought international luxury brands (2000) and, in 2014, a new 1,200 sq m food court; the complex passed ten million customers a year in 2015 and five billion yen in annual turnover after 2017.

ℹ️ Open every day, typical hours 10:00–19:00 (varying by season and by individual shop, not published in final form on the official website): check the current hours on seiburealestate.co.jp/karuizawa before setting off.

🚉 Karuizawa · 6 min walk

Sources: seiburealestate.co.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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