This study elucidates functional changes in commercial areas based on the evolution of the internal structure of the shopping district around Koenji Station, Suginami Ward, Tokyo. It also analyzes location changes in the varieties of shops in 1949, 1978, 1992, 2002, and 2015. Data are drawn from field work, housing maps, phone books，and store association lists. After World War II, Tokyo experienced a population increase accompanied by rapid economic growth. Koenji attracted many such people and, as a result of the growth of shopping and entertainment districts, an overcrowded urban area developed. Many young people, including university students, lived in the area due to its easy access to Tokyo city center and many inexpensive apartments. Since the 1960s, live music clubs and cafes where customers could listen to rock music congregated in Koenji. These stores were located around the entertainment district. Later, as young musicians came to live in the area, Koenji became famous as a city for young music lovers. By the 1980s, Koenji was characterized by a shopping district selling daily necessities and an entertainment district centered on movie theaters but with an abundance of stores catering to the musical tastes of young people. Since the 1990s, however, the entertainment district has experienced a decline due to the closure of movie theaters and the growing diversity in types of entertainment. Similarly, the number of stores in the shopping district has diminished due to the opening of supermarkets and convenience stores. Moreover, with the exception of the area around the station, Koenji features narrow streets and densely built wooden housing, which has prevented the reconstruction of older buildings. Conversely, vacant stores have been rented out at low prices; creating an environment in which young business owners with limited financial resources can more easily open unique stores. Since the 1990s, vintage clothing stores, originally associated with the music culture of Koenji, began to cluster in vacant units in the entertainment district, contemporaneous with the vintage clothing boom. General stores, cafes, and ethnic restaurants had then begun to gather around them. This was a consequence of the collapse of an economic bubble that led to a decline in land prices. Vacant stores were rented out at low prices, making it easier for young entrepreneurs to open their own unique stores in Koenji. From the 2000s onward, even shopping streets a short distance from the station began to attract unique stores that appeal to young people. As a result, in the 2010s Koenji became famous as a town for young people who prefer unique stores such as vintage clothing stores, general stores, and cafes, thereby weaving a uniquely attractive blend of new and old stores of various types. In response to changes in the tastes of young people, Koenji’s commercial district has been updated through the conversion of stores involving two related elements: music-related businesses in the 1970s and unique stores offering vintage clothing and general merchandize since the 1990s. Conventional studies of spatial functional differentiation in large-scale commercial areas have noted that these areas show concentric circular differentiation according to the distance from stations and large-scale commercial facilities, which are the core of the town. In the case of Koenji, however, spatial functional differentiation was not concentric, but exhibited different characteristics for each street in the shopping district.
