1919 founder koichi nakajima headquarters tokyo japan website http www.nakajimausa.com nakajima usa sanrio store nakajima usa inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of nakajima japan a family run company founded in 1919 . a seasoned company in the design and manufacture of licensed plush collectible and seasonal toys and gifts nakajima usa currently produces and distributes a wide range of lifestyle products under a master license agreement for sanrio inc. as well as the company s signature characters . nakajima usa has produced and distributed lifestyle products for brands including angry little girls harajuku lovers and sesame street . nakajima usa operates in los angeles and san francisco . the stores division sales marketing finance and operations are based in los angeles while warehouse facilities customer service credit and merchandise control and based in san francisco . 1 contents 1 history 2 prominent sanrio characters 3 nakajima original characters 4 sanrio stores 5 flagship stores 6 merchandise products 7 future expansion 8 references 9 external links history edit nakajima corporation founded in 1919 ceo shinji nakajima employees 75 in japan ; 360 in the united states related company partner corporation nakajima usa inc. 1919 founder and ceo koichi nakajima started celluloid toy plush in kameido koto ku in japan 1945 office moved from kameido koto ku to chuo edogawa ku where it is currently located 1953 company organization changed to corporation 1953 start producing inflatable vinyl toys 1959 trade name changed to nakajima seisakusho . 1962 license contract with walt disney company produced floating ring floating boat and kids pool 1986 new head office building at 1 7 8 chuo edogawa ku established 1988 founds partner corporation nakajima usa . begins license contract with sanrio . 1991 trade name changed to nakajima corporation 1996 new organization with the new ceo shinji nakajima begins in april 2004 sanrio co. ltd. expanded its license to nakajima usa to include all categories of products for us sanrio boutique stores and specialty gift retailers . nakajima usa currently assumes responsibility for the us boutique and retail stores business to include 49 independently run sanrio stores 47 nakajima usa corporate owned sanrio stores and the wholesale gift business to include 2000 accounts nationwide . today nakajima usa is sanrio s principle licensee and its primary partner for the specialty retail channel in the us . sanrio best known for icon hello kitty and home to many more characters including chococat my melody and keroppi celebrated its 50th anniversary in august 2010 . today over 50 000 sanrio branded items are sold in over 70 countries around the world . in the western hemisphere sanrio character branded products are sold in upwards of 12 000 locations including department specialty national chain stores and over sanrio boutique stores . 2 prominent sanrio characters edit badtz maru charmmy kitty chococat cinnamoroll hello kitty keroppi kuromi little twin stars my melody sugarbunnies nakajima original characters edit pickles the frog baby coco buta coron zou coron sanrio stores edit typically 1 200 square feet 110 m2 and in major metropolitan malls nakajima oversees 2 kinds of sanrio boutique stores . corporate stores are owned and managed directly by the company while licensed stores are owned and operated by individual store owners in the region . flagship stores edit flagship stores are sanrio boutique stores over 1 500 square feet 140 m2 that offer a wide selection of sanrio merchandise including limited edition and collector items specialty products from japan sanrio luxe branded high end items and select licensed merchandise often not found in other sanrio boutiques . nakajima operated flagship stores can be found in new york city ny ala moana hi san francisco ca las vegas nv costa mesa ca orlando fl chicago il garden state nj and houston tx . merchandise products edit each sanrio boutique store offers a wide range of products featuring sanrio characters including stationery clothing cosmetics accessories home furnishing toys and candy . new products are released every month . nakajima usa also offers its own signature characters with a fun line of ultra soft plush and other popular product categories . future expansion edit with the continued success of the licensed store concept sanrio nakajima hopes to focus on actively expanding its retail store operations and plans to do so primarily through the licensed store concept . building on its numerous successful store operations in california and the west coast nakajima plans to bring the sanrio boutique store retail concept to states in the mid west and the east coast in the very near future . references edit hoovers nakajima usa corporate web site external links edit nakajima usa s official english website sanrio s official english website http www.franchise.com business opportunity retail store candy san rio company information.cfm http www.hoovers.com company nakajima usa inc rythrti 1.html nakajima japan s official website sanrio japan s official website https www.facebook.com home.php sanrioluxe ref ts https www.facebook.com home.php hellokitty ref ts retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nakajima usa & oldid 725983101 categories toy companies of the united statessanrio navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 19 june 2016 at 05 35 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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