Universal Music Group Flagship Serves Fans in Tokyo
Published 13 December 2023
Tapping into our Look Ahead 2024: Retail & Brand Comms theme Fan-Tastic Trading, Universal Music Group has debuted a megastore in Tokyo’s Harajuku district – a buzzing mecca for youth culture. Spanning four floors, it’s designed to entice music fans via exclusive merch and up-close access to archival materials such as tour costumes from the music label’s roster of artists.
The new store – which acknowledges the fact that Japan is the world's second largest music market after the US and leads the world in physical music sales (IFPI, 2023) – is currently dedicated to British legends the Rolling Stones, but the line-up will rotate regularly. Next up will be Japanese rock band Zutomayo.
Directly inspired by the Rolling Stones’ permanent London flagship RS No.9 Carnaby Street, the RS No.9 Harajuku takeover features products from the band’s RS No.9 fashion brand, and merch relating specifically totheir 2023 Hackney Diamonds album (T-shirts, tote bags, CDs and vinyl records). There’s also an entertainment space on the top floor with attractions such as photobooths and a digital message board where fans can write messages for the band on a screen.
From November 30 until December 10, the store simultaneously hosted a pop-up dedicated to fellow Universal artist Lady Gaga, specifically the 10th anniversary of her album Artpop. This included costumes such as thewhite-rimmed mask by Swedish/Persian fashion designer Isabell Yalda Hellysaz (worn for the Artpop promotional shoot), and the nude underwater bodysuit by one of Gaga’s costume designers, Australian creative Perry Meek (worn for her arrival at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to kick off the Asian leg of her Artpop tour in 2014).
See also Flannels x Beyoncé Pop-Up Capitalises on Pop Culture Moments, Merchtainment, and Fashion’s Cultural Pivot & Merch Boom in Look Ahead 2024: Fashion.
