Abney and Associates Apple opening new Tokyo store - Apsense

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TOKYO – Apple Inc. plans to open a store in Tokyo’s upscale Omotesando shopping district as early as March, adding its first outlet in the city in years as Japan’s economy recovers, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by February, the person said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak for Apple. The store would be Apple’s first opening in Tokyo since August 2005, according to the company’s website, which is advertising jobs for a new store in the city.

Takashi Takebayashi, a spokesman in Tokyo for Apple, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. The iPad-maker’s first store in Tokyo in almost a decade is under construction as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveils the third prong of his strategy to boost economic growth that has already included fiscal stimulus and monetary policy.

“For Apple, the Japanese market is appealing in terms of quantity and price,” said Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “There is a room to expand tablet sales and a possibility the Japanese market expands if Apple’s mobile carrier partners increase.”

NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless carrier, would consider carrying the iPhone if it can limit the handset’s share of sales to less than 30 percent of the company’s total, Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said Aug. 8. The Japanese carrier’s online store, called market, offers music, videos and games and competes with Apple’s iTunes store.

Prime Minister Abe has promised to loosen business regulations and increase government support to help the country’s industry as part of the “third arrow” plan, following fiscal and monetary stimulus. Consumer prices rose in June, and the world’s third-biggest economy expanded at an annualized 2.6 percent in the three months through June 30.

The land costs about $164 million and a completed store with Apple as tenant would value the property at around $254 million, said Seth Sulkin, a representative director at Tokyo real estate and asset manager Pacifica Capital KK.

Sulkin was Apple’s real estate adviser for all seven of the company’s previous stores in Japan.

“Apple wants the best real estate they can get,” said Sulkin. “They are particular about size and shape. If they have to wait to get the real estate, they would.”