is a Japanese multinational

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

company which operates a chain of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s 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, ...

as well in other major Japanese cities. They are best known for their women's fashion and accessories, which are aimed at the 25–35 age range. In 2003–4 the company generated US$2.75 billion in revenues. Its president is Hiroshi Aoi.

Name and logo

The company's name () is a combination of the name of its predecessor's parent company "Maru-ni" () and the name of its president "Ao-i" (). The name of the department store is customarily written in Japanese as "", in

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...

. The department store's famously ambiguous present-day logo is a symbol resembling "○I○I", and read "marui". The Japanese symbol "○" (not to be confused with the

Latin letter The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Ital ...

"O" or "o") is read "maru", meaning "circle" or "zero". The symbol "I" ostensibly represents the numeral "1", which can be read "i" in Japanese (note that the Latin letter "I" is also the romanized representation of the Japanese hiragana "", a third visual pun). Despite being read as numerals, the symbol is written "OIOI" in Latin letters on the company's website, though the address of the website itself is "www.0101.co.jp". The "○I" in the logo is repeated, partly for aesthetics and also as an inference to the "0101" ending of the phone number of all Marui department stores.丸井のロゴはなぜ「0101」と繰り返すのか
Excite.co.jp.

MARUIONE.JP

In December 2007, Marui Co., Ltd. launched an international shopping and information website, maruione.jp. The site operates in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, simplified and

traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, English, and French. The shopping site offers

Japanese street fashion Japanese street fashion refers to a number of styles of contemporary modern clothing in Japan. Created from a mix of both local and foreign fashion brands, Japanese street fashions tend to have their own distinctive style, with some considered t ...

and traditional goods while their LiveJ information site provides information on fashion, culture and

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Some ...

music.

References

External links

*
Marui Co., Ltd. financial information

MARUIONE.JP
*
LiveJ
Department stores of Japan Clothing retailers of Japan Japanese brands Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese companies established in 2007 Companies based in Tokyo Multinational companies headquartered in Japan {{japan-company-stub