GOB Oriental Berhad is tying up with Sojitz Corporation and Culture Convenience Club to bring Japan’s largest book chain to Malaysia. Tsutaya Book store is a multi-concept bookstore that not only sells books but has a cafe, art display, and some amazing paraphernalia.
The collaborative partner in the franchise, Sojitz is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and planning and coordinating projects, in Japan and overseas. The group also invests in various sectors and conducts financing activities. The broad range of sectors in which it operates includes those related to automobiles, plants, aerospace, medical infrastructure, energy, mineral resources, chemicals, foodstuff resources, agricultural and forestry resources, consumer goods, and industrial parks. While CCC was founded in May 1985 after successfully commencing its first Tsutaya chain of video rental shops and bookstores throughout Japan which, subsequently expanded into Taiwan and China. The company is the franchise holder of Tsutaya Books.
Together the parties will be looking to expand the brand in Malaysia with the first outlet scheduled to open on Pavillion Bukit Jalil in April 2022.
If you’ve been to Japan, you will know that Tsutaya is a renowned Japanese bookstore chain that changed the way consumers see a bookstore, there the brand brings modern-day accessibility to a traditional pass time. The stores are not just bookstores but a future-oriented enterprise producing profits for the group when a subject matter like books is often seen as unprofitable. During the 1980s, no store was engaged in the sale or rental of books, records, and videos en masse in Japan. Books were available only at bookstores, videos only at video rental shops. Muneaki Masuda, the Founder, and CEO of CCC, Tsutaya’s parent company considered all of the distinct genres as one cultural content and put them together. The idea was to let those enjoying individual lifestyles find the right music and movies for themselves in the stores
Hence, in 1983, the first Tsutaya opened its store in Hirakata, Osaka with the brand name: Tsutaya Books. Within one year after starting the business, the number of franchises had grown to 55, and hence, CCC was founded in 1985 to oversee the management of the franchises. Two years later in 1987, the number of stores surpassed 200 and this rapid growth continued until the 1990s. Daikanyama T-Site was launched in 2011 with the first attempt to create a commercial book space targeting premium age consumers in Japan.
Premium age is the basis of Tsutaya’s recent business model. Premium age is those people in their of 50s and 60s who have both time and money and want to enjoy their own lifestyle but many people in their 20s and 30s also visit their store in Daikanyama T-Site as they are attracted by the place that offers stylish, refined interior design and content, large windows with plenty of sunlight and a comfortable spot to chat.
Tsutaya now, is Japan’s largest rental chain brand distributing books, music, DVDs, and games. The number of stores directly managed by the Company stands at around 1,200 Tsutaya stores in Japan and 9 overseas in Taiwan and China.
