Japan’s Bookstore Tsutaya Opens First Southeast Asian Store In Malaysia

Tsutaya Books, a world-renowned Japanese bookstore chain has opened its first store at Pavilion Bukit Jalil in Malaysia. This marks the first store in Southeast Asia for Japan’s largest bookstore chain.

As per reports, Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (“CCC”), which operates Tsutaya Books in Japan and the Tsutaya Bookstore (“TBS”) franchise chain, and Sojitz Corporation (“Sojitz”) established a joint venture company with Property outfit Global Oriental Bhd as local franchise partner to expand the Tsutaya franchise to Malaysia.

Spanning 31,000 sq. ft, this single-storey bookstore is home to over 240,000 specially curated books, stationery and decorative goods, making it probably one of the largest bookstores in the country. About 60% of the titles are in English, while the remainder caters for Bahasa Melayu, Chinese and Japanese readers.

Tsutaya Books is Japan’s largest bookstore and rental chain distributing books, music, DVDs and games, with 1,200 stores in Japan and nine in Taiwan and China. Founded by Muneaki Masuda who opened its first store in Osaka in 1983, the franchise is known for its beautifully designed stores offering picturesque views of endless bookshelves.

The Bukit Jalil Tsutaya Bookstore marks a key milestone in our journey to spread our wings in ASEAN countries and it’s the best chance for us to establish a direct relationship with Malaysian customers and build loyalty for our brand in this important market.” said Hideyuki Uemoto, CEO of Tsutaya Books Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

“The four pillars – lifestyle, book and cafe, comfort and community events – were the driving forces behind this unique bookstore landscape. We didn’t want to settle on just selling great books, we are giving more than what they asked for. We create a creative space with encourages social interaction and escapism for people of all ages.”, Uemoto added.