The rise (and occasional fall) of Hong Kong’s Japanese department stores

When Daimaru opened Hong Kong’s first Japanese department store in November 1960, 4,000 guests attended the cocktail party marking the occasion.

The Causeway Bay store was the chain’s first overseas branch, but the retail mix was distinctly global, reflecting the British colony’s cosmopolitan outlook as an old East-meets-West trading port.

“Internationalism is the theme,” the Post reported. Daimaru had a supermarket, international bazaar, Italian tea room and Japanese dining room, with catering prepared by chefs brought in from Japan.

“The store is ultra modern and streamlined. The goods are attractively displayed on well spaced counters and soft music provides a constant background,” this newspaper said.

The store employed 400 local shop workers, trained in Japanese etiquette by the 15 Japanese managers who supervised them. This high level of customer service was a hallmark of all the Japanese department stores to follow in Hong Kong, as was the international retail mix.