BEAMS opens its 12th GATE STORE at Konpira Shrine, with pop-ups inside Sensoji and at Hakone Yumoto Station

BEAMS is opening a twelfth permanent GATE STORE on the 785-step approach to Konpira Shrine and staging pop-ups inside Sensoji's grounds and at Hakone Yumoto Station within about five weeks of each other — a bet that Japan's pilgrimage stairways and transit concourses, not city flagships, are where the next square metres of retail traffic sit.

The floortok desk · 3 min read · 27 September 2026

Bold, warm editorial illustration of a silhouette pilgrim in a conical hat walking up a long stone shrine stairway lined with rows of tall stone lanterns, with a small traditional shopfront and pine trees along the ascent, the Konpira Shrine approach at Kotohira under a soft morning sky. — Illustration by floortok.com

BEAMS said it will open its twelfth permanent "GATE STORE" — a format built around regional crafts and local partners — on the stone approach to Konpira Shrine (金刀比羅宮) in Kotohira, Kagawa Prefecture, on October 31, according to a September 17 company release. It is one of three GATE STORE openings the retailer is staging within about five weeks of each other: a five-month pop-up inside Sensoji Temple's grounds in Asakusa, Tokyo, opened September 26, and a three-month pop-up at Hakone Yumoto Station follows on October 9.