Tokyo Market

Tokyo Market

DOVER STREET MARKET is launching its debut international store in the Ginza district of Tokyo. The shopping emporium opened its doors for the first time in London in 2004.
"We didn't chose Ginza, Ginza chose us," said Dover Street Market founder Adrian Joffe. "After seven years, we felt this was the right time to have the first store outside London and an opportunity came up in Ginza, the commercial district of Tokyo. There was an old department store that used to be amazing in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies but became run down before it shut up shop in the Nineties. We covered the entire facade with concrete and glass so you can't see in from the outside. Ginza is a quite conservative area, full of old classic department stores, so we like the idea of being a pioneer there."
The store, which opens officially tomorrow, will carry "95 per cent" of its London brands, with a mix of emerging and established brands - from Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen to Simone Rocha and JW Anderson. The space will connect to Japanese high street store Uniqlo, which also opens tomorrow. Joffe plans to expand the DSM empire even further in the coming future.
"What's even better about Ginza is that we will be able to give more space to the Japanese brands," he told the Metro. "Ginza is the launch of Dover Street Market International, so it's very important. We have a plan to open five stores maximum. We've already planned one in New York. Wherever we open, it has to be a place with a lot of energy because the concept of the store is a beautiful clash of visions. Not every city lends itself to that. I couldn't see a DSM in Milan, for instance."