Japan's Furniture King Caters to the Plebes

摘要

Akio Nitori had his aha! moment during a 1972 trip to California. As a young merchant operating a handful of stores in Japan, Nitori spent a week touring Sears department stores and Levitz Furniture outlets. He marveled at the stylish designs, color coordination, and quality of their home goods-' which sold for one-third the price of Japanese furnishings. "I wanted Japanese people to live as well as Americans," he says. "I couldn't afford to triple salaries for my workers, but I thought maybe I could lower prices so my customers paid one-third as much."