The shopping mall Shibuya PARCO created the first major buzz the industry has seen in a long time. Takashi Kashiwamoto, the executive store director of the new facility, was the manager of the original Shibuya PARCO facility from spring 2013 until its closure for renovations in August 2016. He also served as the director of the planning office for the renovation. Kashiwamoto is highly passionate about both the original PARCO and new Shibuya PARCO. Kashiwamoto shared the philosophy behind the new Shibuya PARCO with us.

An Expression of the PARCO DNA

We spent approximately three years preparing to open Shibuya PARCO, but we did almost no area marketing (which is always done when opening a new facility). We devoted everything to finding what was “fun,” “interesting,” and “cool.”

“Incubation,” “urban development,” and “information dissemination” are part of PARCO’s DNA. Shibuya PARCO serves as the image of the PARCO brand. It represents the next stage of development of the PARCO DNA that has been evolving for the last 50 years. PARCO will be the leader of the next 50 years.

We have to focus on creating a Shibuya PARCO for Tokyo, Japan and the world. Until now, we’ve typically focused on how we can increase sales at shopping malls, but at Shibuya PARCO we think about the true essence of people, and focused on creating the feeling of, “it was fun to visit.” That is the very reason we did not carry out any marketing.

The creators, artists, and designers at Shibuya PARCO empathized with our mission of creating, “interesting,” “fun,” and “cool,” and together we sought to create new needs among consumers by offering “new consumption,” “new values,” “stimulation,” and the “value of experience.”

Shibuya PARCO is not looking to broadcast the major culture. We disseminate counter culture, sub culture, and youth culture. We want to become a shopping mall that shares the “one and only” with the world.

The tenants who joined us valued our PARCO DNA, and wanted to create something interesting and fun together. It might sound like we are singing our own praises, but we have many tenants, including major overseas luxury brands, that say, “if it’s PARCO, then I’ll give it a shot.” I am very grateful.

A Reduced Number of Apparel Tenants

The proportion of apparel tenants at Shibuya PARCO has decreased in accordance with the rise in the number of food and pop culture tenants. We were never particular about the proportion of tenants, so it is not something I want to talk about.

We believe in the value of fashion, and did our leasing based on the desire to present a new way to enjoy fashion. We had tenants join us who could firmly present their creativity.

We have differentiated ourselves by increasing the space we allocate to directly managed shops, galleries, including those we curate ourselves, and zones for limited-time shops devoted to incubation, all of which shopping malls have typically avoided. How we can disseminate information is the most important point guiding our operations. We want to create a facility where people who are doing new things, different to those around them, and pursuing their own uniqueness can discover and enjoy a culture different to their own.

Takashi Kashiwamoto