Most of the temporary hoarding has come down this summer on the new building that will house Sanseido Bookstore’s Jimbocho flagship in Tokyo, which closed three years ago for reconstruction. The 13-story structure rises 61 meters. Completion is slated for January next year, and finishing work is underway toward a spring opening.
In Jimbocho—the “town of books,” dense with bookshops and antiquarian stores—the former flagship boasted the largest sales floor in the district (about 1,000 tsubo) and stood at Kanda-Jimbocho 1-1-1, making the building a local landmark.
The new building, Front Place Kanda-Jimbocho, is an office tower with retail. Sanseido has named the new store on the lower floors the “Kanda-Jimbocho Flagship.” Explaining the addition of “Kanda” to the name, the company said: “‘Kanda’ evokes the history and culture of the wider district that includes Jimbocho. As a bookstore that has done business in the Kanda area for many years, we want to contribute still more to the vitality of this neighborhood. Deepening ties with nearby shops and companies, and creating an environment in which visitors circulate through the area and draw customers to one another—that is the vision we aim for.”