9 stores · curated ORBIS register
Groceries and beach supplies share the building at Boulineau's, a family-owned Cherry Grove market established in 1948. Loft began in 1987 as an annex of Seibu Shibuya before becoming an independent Japanese lifestyle retailer in 1996. Shibuya's Parco brings fashion together with art and music, reflecting the department store's focus on youth culture. Its Shibuya business dates to 1973, while the present building reopened in 2019 following a complete rebuilding.
Cherry Grove, North Myrtle Beach
Boulineau's has been a family-owned market in Cherry Grove since 1948, combining a full grocery and IGA with a hardware department, bakery, and beachwear under one roof. Its Barnacle Beach Shoppe and Boulineau's Express sell souvenirs, swimwear, snacks, and fireworks to the North Myrtle Beach crowd.
Best for Groceries, beach supplies, and souvenirs
Tokyo
Tokyo lifestyle chain that opened in 1987 as an annex of the Seibu Shibuya department store, spun off into an independent company (The Loft Co., Ltd.) in 1996. Its yellow wordmark logo was designed by graphic designer Ikko Tanaka.
Best for Japanese lifestyle retail
Loft opened in 1987 as an annex — the 'Loft Building' — attached to the Seibu department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, stocked with stationery, kitchenware, furniture and design-forward household goods aimed at younger shoppers. The name references the converted lofts of 1960s SoHo in Manhattan, evoking a similarly eclectic retail atmosphere built around quirky, design-conscious everyday objects rather than conventional department-store merchandise. Loft's yellow signage and wordmark, designed by the noted Japanese graphic designer Ikko Tanaka, have remained visually unchanged since the 1987 opening. Within roughly a decade the concept outgrew its department-store origins: The Loft Co., Ltd. was formally established as an independent company on 8 August 1996. From its Shibuya flagship, Loft expanded into a nationwide chain now numbering more than a hundred locations across Japan, plus a small number of overseas branches, retaining its identity as a stationery- and gift-focused specialty retailer rather than a general department store.
Makishi, Naha
A municipal market hall with independent fishmongers, butchers, pickle sellers, produce stalls, and shops carrying Okinawan ingredients and souvenirs. The market reopened in a rebuilt three-story building in March 2023. Established 1950.
Best for Independent fishmongers, butchers, pickle sellers, produce stalls
Tokyo
Tokyo's youth-culture department store founded 1973 in Shibuya, blending fashion, art, music, and subcultures; rebuilt and reopened 2019 with 600,000 monthly overseas visitors.
Best for Tokyo youth department store
Parco opened in 1973 and played a foundational role in establishing Shibuya's image as Japan's epicenter of youth culture and fashion. As a shopping complex with an 11-story format, the facility positioned itself as a cultural institution rather than purely commercial retail, emphasizing youth culture, art, music, and fashion through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The original Parco shaped Shibuya's identity as a destination for young people and remained ahead of cultural trends. After decades at the forefront of fashion retail, the store was rebuilt and reopened in 2019 with expanded features including outdoor terraces and a reimagined tenant mix. The 6th floor houses shops associated with otaku culture including a Nintendo store, Pokémon Center, Jump Shop, and Capcom Store, reflecting the shift in youth culture consumption. Today Parco attracts approximately one million visitors monthly, with around 600,000 coming from overseas, making it one of Tokyo's most internationally visited shopping destinations. The facility continues to position itself as a cultural venue where retail serves as a secondary function to artistic and social expression.
Suva / across Fiji
Fiji's home-grown retail institution — fragrance, watches, jewelry and island gifts from Suva to Nadi since 1948. One house here for the chain the islands actually shop.
Best for Fiji’s own department store house
Makati
Rustan's is the Philippines' leading luxury department store, founded in 1952 by Bienvenido Tantoco Sr. and Gliceria Rustia-Tantoco. It introduced the country's first gift certificate, wedding registry, and loyalty program.
Best for Prestige international fashion, beauty and home brands under one roof
Rustan's traces back to 1952 and a living room in San Marcelino, where husband and wife Bienvenido Tantoco Sr. and Gliceria Rustia-Tantoco began importing international goods for Filipino shoppers who had few local options for them. The store they built went on to introduce a run of retail firsts to the Philippines: the country's first gift certificate, its first wedding registry, and its first loyalty program, Frequent Shoppers Plus. Rustan Commercial Corporation, the flagship company behind the department store, was incorporated in 1957 and now operates five major stores plus a number of boutiques, carrying everything from Bvlgari and Hermès fragrances to Roberto Coin jewelry and Pottery Barn homeware. The Tantocos' business has since grown into the wider Rustan Group of Companies, which also brought Starbucks to the Philippines in 1997 — the first store, at Makati's 6750 Ayala Building, made the country the third market outside North America to get one — and runs SSI Group, now the country's largest specialty retailer with over 600 stores nationwide. Nearly 75 years on, the group still frames its mission the way the Tantocos first put it: 'serving only the finest.'
Central Jakarta
Indonesia's first modern department store, opened August 1966 on Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta; the state-owned retailer was built to support small local craft and textile businesses.
Best for Indonesian batik, craft and local design
Sarinah opened in August 1966 on Jalan M.H. Thamrin in central Jakarta, and is documented as Indonesia's first modern department store — a state-owned enterprise (BUMN) rather than a private retail chain. From its founding, the store's mandate went beyond conventional retail: it was established to support small and medium local enterprises (UMKM), particularly artisans and cottage industries working in textiles and handicrafts, giving it a distinct role in Indonesian retail history as a state-backed showcase for domestic craft.
Today the enterprise has expanded well beyond a single department store, running divisions in property management, hospitality partnerships and international trade facilitation, and its flagship building functions as a cultural and performing-arts venue in addition to a shopping destination, hosting Indonesian artisans and product showcases. It maintains additional locations across major Indonesian cities.
Its precise distinction is an August 1966 opening and its status as Indonesia's first modern department store.
Weston Vt / Online
Founded in 1946, The Vermont Country Store sells hard-to-find bedding, housewares, apparel, toys, and Vermont maple syrup from its original general stores in Weston and Rockingham, Vermont. Every purchase is backed by a no-hassle, 100% satisfaction guarantee, with the full catalogue also sold through the company's online store.
Best for General Store
Indre By, Copenhagen
Copenhagen's produce market since the 19th century, the site became a car park in 1958 before architect Hans Peter Hagens revived it as two glass-roofed halls in 2011. More than 100,000 locals shop its 100-plus stalls each week.
Best for Two glass food-market halls opened in 2011
The site Torvehallerne occupies has been a food market for longer than the current glass-hall buildings suggest. By the late 19th century it had formalized into Grønttorv, Copenhagen's central wholesale produce market, supplying the city's kitchens well into the 20th century — until the market declined after the Second World War and the site was paved over as a car park in 1958, sitting empty of any culinary use for four decades.
Architect Hans Peter Hagens first proposed reviving it as a market in 1997, drawing partial inspiration from Moorish market architecture, and after years of planning and negotiation with the city, the current Torvehallerne opened at Israels Plads, next to Nørreport Station, in September 2011. Hagens designed two adjoining glass-roofed halls — glass chosen specifically to pull daylight in through the dark Danish winter — with raw concrete walls referencing the old market sheds and warm oak counters softening the industrial materials.
More than 100,000 Copenhagen residents now pass through its stalls each week, buying from more than 100 vendors selling smørrebrød, fresh seafood, artisan cheese, Nordic chocolate, coffee and wine. It's Copenhagen's first purpose-built central food hall — not a renovated market, but one designed from scratch to replace the wholesale trade it stands on.
Curated ORBIS register · official links shown where recorded
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