Isetan's new concept in Kuala Lumpur: 'The Japan Store'

For those who haven't come across it, Isetan is a Japanese department store with branches worldwide. There used to be one in London, even (I'm not sure if there is still? I think there are plans to relaunch one there). Like its other half, Mitsukoshi, Isetan is a regular department store, but selling quality Japanese products as well as global brands. 

Click on photos for slide show

So I was quite surprised to visit the old one in Kuala Lumpur's Lot10 mall recently. This Isetan has had a major refit, and rebrand! Labelled 'The Japan Store' the new version shopping experience was a bit of a treat to walk around. Each storey of the building was named and themed, concessions were situated in artsy pods reminiscent of The Serpentine Gallery's summer pavilion commissions. There were hipster cafes, breakout and work areas. Products were arranged and curated more like an art gallery than a department store. On the top level are Japanese restaurants, and the basement food hall is now a very Japan affair, with exclusively high-end Japanese foods, eateries, drinks and liquor. It was like walking into a nicely designed store IN Tokyo. (And I have to say, after a dearth of anything affordable and fresh/unfried in KL, I was delighted to find a healthy Japan-style salad bar there too!) 

Interestingly, there is more than one Isetan in KL, and the others are still regular department stores. So this one is a specific flagship, and I would guess set up to differentiate the brand from the plethora of identikit mall anchors around the city. The Lot10 store itself is in an odd location - it sits back, on the edge of Bukit Bintang's retail strip, in what is by Asian standards an 'old' mall (generally viewed as 'less desirable' over here). A new MRT has just opened nearby-ish, but the real draw of this area seems to be the outsized, dull and flashy Pavilion Mall complex at the other end. Perhaps this is why Isetan chose to refurb this particular branch? To give people a reason to walk the extra metres for a uniquely Japanese experience - rather than just bypass Isetan entirely while heading to the flash? The other large (and far more prominent) stores in the Lot10 mall are Zara and H&M, however. Which surely pull in not-so-style-conscious youngsters with limited cash. So I don't think this ready-made footfall would be of much use to Isetan! 

My query is whether this fab new concept store actually sells anything. Or perhaps high-sales are not its primary objective?? (Can this be the case in retail? Could retail space be so cheap in KL as to support an almost pure 'branding exercise'?) The new store is beautiful and classy, but the items scarce, and pricey. It was nearly empty when I visited (on a Thursday late afternoon). Even the cafes were quiet. Japanese products and style are more respected and fashionable in SE Asia than in Europe, for example. But I'm not sure with the same groups who would also have the incomes to regularly shop at this store. Japanese expats - with both the cash and inclination to frequent it - would be an obvious market. But there is only a tiny number of them in Kuala Lumpur, especially compared to somewhere like Singapore, where there is no 'Japan Store' flagship like this. So, I'm still curious as to 'why Lot10, KL'? 

Anyway, if you're visiting KL's Bukit Bintang area, it's worth a look.