is one of the largest personal computer and consumer electronics retailers in Japan. In 2000, it was the second largest e-commerce company in the country.

Bic Camera is a consumer electronics retailer chain in Japan. Currently, it has 41 stores in Japan. Bic Camera has a 50% ownership of former rival store Kojima and full ownership of computer store chain Sofmap. As of 2018, Bic Camera is the third larges ...

acquired a majority stake in Sofmap in 2006, and turned it into a wholly owned subsidiary in January 2010. Formerly listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed ...

under the code 2690, Sofmap was delisted on 26 January 2010 after the transaction was completed. As of 2018, Sofmap has 21 stores in 16 districts, mainly in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and Akihabara.

History

Sofmap was established by in 1982 as a membership-based software rental business in Shinjuku, followed by branches in

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People * Kanda (surname) *Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places * Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan **Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo * Kanda River, a ri ...

, Akihabara, and

Shibuya Shibuya (wikt:渋谷, 渋谷wikt:区, 区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern ...

, as well as franchise stores in

Hiyoshi Strand of ginkgo trees at Keio University is a part of the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located within Kōhoku Ward in the northeast of Yokohama City. Overview It is served by Hiyoshi Station on the Tōkyū Tōyoko L ...

and Kawasaki in the

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

. In 1984, Sofmap expanded its business to new and used PC hardware, as well as Nintendo Family Computer and PC software sales. A year later, the software rental business was discontinued after it was declared illegal by the Japanese government. At the beginning of their hardware sales, Sofmap specialized in "box sales", where it set up shops at small-sized commercial buildings in Akihabara and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Nipponbashi is a shopping district of Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan. The area is centered along Sakaisuji Avenue, extending from the Ebisu-chō Interchange of the Hanshin Expressway in the south, to Nansan-dōri (just east of Nankai Namba Station) in the n ...

and sold computers at low prices. In 1986, the company published a free publication titled , which listed computer products and prices. To differentiate themselves from other PC stores, Sofmap introduced their warranty system: five years for new computers and three years for used computers. In anticipation of the PC boom that started with the release of

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturi ...

, Sofmap increased its floor space and focused on display sales for new PC users. However, during the mid-1990s, sales declined due to a combination of factors such as falling prices of personal computers, reduced distribution and profitability due to shortened product cycles of used products, and sluggish sales of home video games. In 1997, amidst rumors of the company filing for bankruptcy, Sofmap was purchased by Marubeni. In 2000, Suzuki retired and was replaced by . The sofmap.com website was also established that year. In 2005, Marubeni partially transferred its shares of Sofmap to

, with Bic owning 61.56% of Sofmap by 2006. On January 29, 2010, Sofmap became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bic Camera. On March 1, 2012, the retail division was split and Sofmap Co., Ltd. was established, and the remaining store real estate management division was merged into Bic Camera. On June 5, 2017, Sofmap's main Akihabara branch was converted into a Bic Camera branch while the rest of the Akihabara branches were rebranded as . On October 31, 2019, Sofmap acquired anime shop from Bunkyodo Group Holdings.

References

External links

* (Corporate) * Japanese brands 1982 establishments in Japan Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Consumer electronics retailers of Japan Retail companies based in Tokyo Retail companies established in 1982 Video game retailers {{Japan-company-stub