921 bytes added
, 22:55, 5 December 2014
*''Founded: [[1673]]''
*''Japanese'': 越後屋 ''(Echigo-ya)''
The Echigo-ya was a major [[Nihonbashi]] retail store, focusing chiefly on the sale of [[kimono]]. In the [[Meiji period]], the company changed its name to Mitsukoshi, and remains one of the most prominent Japanese department stores today.
Originally founded in [[1673]], the Echigo-ya was perhaps the first prominent merchant operation to sell clothes ready-to-wear, at their store, directly for cash. Prior to this, it was standard for kimono merchants to visit patrons at their homes. Other stores such as [[Shirokiya]] and [[Daimaru]] quickly adopted Echigo-ya's model, and by the 1690s, popularly published guides listed more than fifteen major retail clothiers in the city of [[Edo]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[Eiko Ikegami]], ''Bonds of Civility'', Cambridge University Press (2005), 272.
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Historic Buildings]]