founded 1991 headquarters sagamihara kanagawa japan area served worldwide products second hand books magazines manga cds dvds video games video game consoles mobile phones and portable media players website www.bookoff.co.jp en index.html book off bukku ofu k por shon tyo 3313 is japan s largest chain of used bookstores . founded in august 1991 the company has had explosive success expanding to 866 stores throughout japan and eight overseas locations as of august 2006 . in addition to books its chains also sell manga cds dvds video games and even used video game consoles mobile phones and portable media players . the stores are distinguished by their large surface area cleanliness and bright illumination . contents 1 operations 2 international stores 3 gallery 4 references 5 external links operations edit as stores are larger it is easier for shoppers to find what they are looking for . browsing is encouraged shown with a typical scene of high school students who read through entire series of manga standing quietly in the aisles . another innovation cited for its success is the practice of shaving the edges off the pages of books using a special machine in order to make them appear newer . 1 by offering a wide selection of books that appear like new at reduced prices book off has aggressively targeted conventional bookstore chains which since 1953 2 have been unable to discount new and near new books and other media due to government regulations which enable a publisher s cartel . 3 book off is frequently cited as a rare example of a corporation that was able to grow during the so called lost decade of economic stagnation that followed the collapse of the japanese asset price bubble through its use of innovative business strategies that are covered in the japanese business press . it expanded from merely used books to used second hand merchandise through its hard off stores and to the video rental market through tsutaya . international stores edit book off also operates several stores in united states two in seoul and three in paris . in 2012 it closed its only canadian store in vancouver british columbia . gallery edit thousands of manga volumes at book off book off store near op ra in paris japanese used game books sold at book off references edit screen savers the economist may 24 2007 j. kreiner u. mvhwald h. d. vlschleger 2004 . handbook of oriental studies . section 5 japan modern japanese society . p. 452 . isbn 90 04 10516 6 . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link mike w. peng 2008 . global strategy . pp. 390 393 . isbn 0 324 59099 7 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to book off . companies portal books portal official website u.s. website v t e major bookstore and book superstore chains international book off dymocks booksellers books kinokuniya naiin tsutaya waterstones whsmith eslite bookstore nationwide country barnes & noble us blackwell uk books a million us dokya th eason irl gunung agung ind indigo books and music can kyobo book centre kr libro jp national book store ph polare be steimatzky il suomalainen kirjakauppa fin oxford bookstore in thalia de defunct borders group int l us based b. dalton us dillons uk ottakar s uk polare nl waldenbooks us see also list of bookstore chains including local entities this article about a japanese corporation or company related topic is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title book off & oldid 664771416 categories bookstores of japancompanies based in kanagawa prefecturecompanies established in 19911991 establishments in japanjapanese company stubshidden categories cs1 maint uses authors parameterarticles containing japanese language textcommons category with local link same as on wikidataall stub articles 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 in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutschespa olfran ais simple english edit links this page was last modified on 30 may 2015 at 22 54 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view