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| Chronicle Books, San Francisco | |
Chronicle Books Japan Co., Ltd., a new company formed by Chronicle Books and Top Partners Co., Ltd., will be the exclusive distributor of Chronicle Books products in Japan and will establish boutiques featuring Chronicle Books products in flagship Tsutaya Mega bookstores. (Top Partners and Tsutaya are both owned by Culture Convenience Club.) The company will also open a Chronicle Books store in Tokyo modeled on the three Chronicle Books bookstores in San Francisco.
The Tokyo store will open this summer. Chronicle's Japanese partners proposed the idea in order to help establish and market the Chronicle brand in Tokyo, said Jack Jensen, president of Chronicle Books.
The boutiques will come in three sizes and be branded Chronicle Books Japan, stocking a mix of 80% stationery and gift items and 20% books. The books will include English originals, particularly children's books (popular for teaching children English), and some translations, as well as titles from Chronicle subsidiaries Galison and Princeton Architectural Press. The first boutique will open in May, and expand to 25 by the end of next year. The company will adjust offerings, depending on how consumers respond, and if all goes well, within several years, Chronicle may open as many as 300 boutiques in Tsutaya Mega stores, which are sleek, modern superstores that sell books, music, videos and other products. "Their stores are just stunning bookstores," Jensen said. "We're thrilled."
Jensen added that Chronicle has had "a close relationship with Japan" for many decades, going back to the 1970s, when the company did all its printing in Japan. "We've understood the publishing and bookselling community in Japan." As Chronicle expanded, "we didn't look to London or New York but focused on Asia."
"We were looking for the next wave of publishing culture," said Kazuo Nakanishi, CEO of Top Partners. "Chronicle Books is exactly what we have long admired, and we are looking forward to bringing their books and brand to the Japanese market."