Chanel launched a boutique Saturday on ritzy Chuo-dori in Tokyo's Ginza district, with 200 people lining up before the doors opened at 11 a.m.
They were apparently intent on snapping up designer items sold nowhere else and called "Ephemere de Ginza," connoting transitoriness, to commemorate the opening.
The morning surge prompted Chanel Ginza to open the entrance of the 10-story building earlier than scheduled. It has one of the global chain's largest shopping areas, consisting of three floors of designer goods.
Chanel is internationally acclaimed for its fashion and fragrance items such as Chanel suits featuring boxy lines and Chanel No. 5 perfume.
Fans here are known as "Chanelers," and the creations of the fashion empire's founder and designer, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, are highly popular.
The Ginza building features a gigantic front wall covered by hundreds of thousands of light-emitting diodes, which depict such images as the patterns of Chanel's famous tweeds.
Chanel Ginza provides a full lineup of the latest clothing products designed by its chief designer, Karl Lagerfeld, who took over the Chanel design house in the early 1980s.
The 10th floor of the building has a restaurant planned by Chanel and celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse.
The opening of Chanel Ginza follows that of a Christian Dior boutique earlier this year.
Last year, globally acclaimed brand shops such as Cartier and Salvatore Ferragamo stormed into the posh Ginza shopping district following the launches of Hermes and Prada boutiques.
