Nitori

Nitori Co., Ltd is a Japanese furniture and home accessories retail company headquartered in Sapporo.^[2] It is the largest furniture and home furnishing chain in Japan.^[3] Founded in Sapporo in 1967 by the company's current President Akio Nitori. Nitori currently has more than 700 stores in Japan and more than 70 stores in China,^[4] more than 50 stores in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea. The company's products are sold in the United States under the Aki-Home brand name.^[5]

Nitori Co., Ltd

Nitori headquarters in Asabu, Kita Ward, Sapporo
Native name	株式会社ニトリ
Industry	Retail
Founded	1967; 58 years ago (1967) in Sapporo, Japan
Headquarters	Sapporo , Japan
Number of locations	900+ stores
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Akio Nitori (Founder and President)[1]
Products	Furniture Home accessories
Website	www.nitori-net.jp

In November 2010, Nitori Holdings, Inc. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nitori Holdings (holding company) following the transition to a holding company structure, which was established in 2012 and began operating stores under the name "AKi-Home" (after Akio's name) the following year.^[6][7]

Nitori was ranked the #1 most desirable company to work for among new graduates in 2023 and 2024.^[8]

Nitori store in Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan.

History

Nitori store in Ushiku, Ibaraki, Japan in 2009, showing the company's old design.

• 1967 - Established NITORI furniture store in Sapporo
• 1973 - Adopted direct purchasing scheme from vender
• 1975 - Built Japan's first air dome, opened Nango store
• 1980 - Introduced the first automated vertical warehouse in the Japanese distribution industry
• 1986 - Began full-scale direct imports of overseas products
• 1987 - Invested in furniture manufacture, Marumitsu Woodwork, effectively establishing it as a subsidiary
• 1993 - Opened first Honshu store
• 1994 - Commenced operations at own plants overseas
• 2000 - Opened Kanto distribution center
• 2003 - Achieved Sales 100 billion Japanese yen and 100 stores
• 2004 - Entered the online sales business
• 2007 - Opened Kaohsiung Dream Time store in Taiwan, the first store overseas
• 2009 - Achieved Sales 200 billion Japanese yen and 200 stores
• 2011 - Launched new format "Deco Home" and commenced shopping mall business in operations by NITORI
• 2012 & 2013 - Achieved Sales 340 billion Japanese Yen and 300 stores
• 2013 - Opened "Aki-Home", the first store in the United States
• 2014 - Opened first store in Wuhan, China
• 2022 - Opened its first store in Malaysia at LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre. A second store will also be opening in third quarter of the year at IOI City Mall in Putrajaya. At the same time, Singapore opened the Nitori furniture outlet at Courts Nojima at The Heeren on 31 March 2022 in Orchard Road.
• 2023 - Opened its first store in Thailand at CentralWorld shopping complex, Bangkok.

Nitori store entrance in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan.

• 2024 - Opened its first store in the Philippines at Mitsukoshi BGC in Taguig, as well as in Indonesia at Jakarta's Central Park Mall.

References

1. "Message from the Chief Executive Officer". Nitori Co., Ltd. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
2. "Japan furniture seller Nitori's H1 profit hits record, defies yen slide". Reuters. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
3. Harney, Alexandra (7 June 2010). "Nitori Furnishes Japan". Forbes.
4. "Corporate History". Nitori. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
5. "About Us". Nitori Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
6. ニトリ、米国に初出店--西海岸に『AKi-Home(アキ・ホーム)』2店舗オープン - マイナビニュース（/2016年10月23日閲覧）
7. ニトリ／10月にアメリカに進出 Archived 23 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine - 流通ニュース（2013年09月04日版/2016年10月23日閲覧）
8. Take, Sayumi (24 April 2024). "Japanese companies navigate workplace revolution as job hunters get choosier". Nikkei Asia.