東急東横店が85年の歴史に幕　駅周辺の再開発で　

• シェア

On March 31, the 85-year history of Shibuya's leading commercial facility “Tokyu Department Store Toyoko Store” was closed with the progress of redevelopment projects around the station.

In 1934, Toyoko Department Store (formerly East Building) opened as a terminal department store directly connected to Shibuya Station at Tokyu Toyoko Store. At that time, while long-established department stores such as Mitsukoshi and Matsuzakaya gathered in Nihonbashi and Ginza, they opened a department store in Shibuya, a junction of traffic with the suburbs. The shop sells mainly daily necessities and foods, and has gained support as a shop that supports living along the Toyoko Line that connects Shibuya and Yokohama. When the image of "department store = high-end department store" was strong, Toyoko department store might have been a popular shop near today's large supermarkets and shopping malls. In 1954, post-war reconstruction progressed, the 4-story Taden Building was expanded and the 11-story Tokyu Kaikan (Toyoko store west building) was completed. In 1970, the South Building was expanded next to the Toyoko Store West Building, and the Tokyu Toyoko Store was expanded to include the East Building, the West Building, and the South Building in line with the development of Shibuya.

Although the three-building system has continued for a long time, the entire Shibuya station including the Toyoko store is planned to be reviewed from the perspectives of "aging buildings" and "barrier-free undeveloped". This is the redevelopment around the station once every 100 years, which is currently in progress. Following the closing of the Toyoko store's East hall in March 2013, the Toyoko store's West hall and South hall have also closed, and the period of the Toyoko store's history spanning 85 years from the prewar period has been hit.

Originally, a grand closing event was scheduled for the closing of the store, but unfortunately no special event was held from the viewpoint of preventing the transmission of the new coronavirus.
However, 30 and 40 minutes before the store closes at 20:00, the media, the general public, and long-time Toyoko shop fans who are spared goodbye have begun to gather at Hachiko Square.

Immediately after the store closed, a final greeting was played from the Toyoko store, Kazuya Ishihara, on a broadcast on the hall.

"Tokyu Department Store will be closed today on March 31 except for some sales floors, such as underground merchandise counters. We feel sorry for this, but we will close this business for the further development of the city of Shibuya "Before the closing of the business, we received many messages from customers in the planning of the recruitment of Toyoko store department stores. That Toyoko store was the daily life of customers' daily life, We are very pleased that it has become an important and memorable stage, such as the Toyoko Theater and the rooftop amusement park, and it is our pride that we have been operating such a store for 85 years. Thank you for your patronage (excerpts) "

After a greeting from the hall, the managers at the front entrance of Hachiko Plaza opened their heads deeply toward customers gathering in the square.

The Toyoko store quietly reached the end of its business after being overlooked by the corona whirlpool Shibuya and the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

The dismantling of the Toyoko store will begin around autumn, and the construction of the SHIBUYA SCRAMBLE SQUARE Phase II (Central and West Buildings) is scheduled to be completed by 2027.

Related article
Toyoko store special feature "NO END Shibuya Toyoko Terminal" (March 5, 2020)