Japanese bookstore giant Kinokuniya will open its first-ever Inner Loop location at a Rice Village shopping center this fall. The 5,600-square-foot store will sit next to Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, much to the delight of book lovers and students at nearby Rice University. NewQuest, the real estate agency that purchased the property, didn’t respond to Chron’s request for comment but told CultureMap Houston that they had coveted the space at 2369 Rice Blvd.
Kinokuniya has already seen massive success in the region. The company opened its first-ever Houston location at the Katy Grand shopping center in 2019. This reporter, who visited the Katy location last month for the first time in search of pens and romance manga, can confirm that it was bustling. Kinokuniya operates stores around Asia, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and in the United States. Besides the Katy location, the company runs stores in Austin and the Dallas suburbs of Carrollton and Plano. Another Dallas-area store will open in Haltom City in August, according to filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Kinokuniya began its life as a humble lumber company founded in 1923. The company reorganized into a book store in 1927 and has since become Japan’s largest bookstore chain with more than 70 stores around the nation, including a massive shop in Tokyo.