Loved for its selection of stationery and crafts, as well as its woodworking and gardening supplies, retailer Hands has announced it will close its Shibuya location in Tokyo after 48 years.

The space is closing in November due to the property’s lease expiring.

“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all customers for the warm patronage and support we have received over the years,” Hands’ Monday media release stated.

The Shibuya location of the DIY and lifestyle store first opened in September 1978, two years after the company was founded.

At that time, DIY was a popular hobby in Japan, boosted by clubs and magazines dedicated to it. The American TV show “Little House on the Prairie” and its message of a simple life lived in green spaces was also cited as influencing the trend.

Today, Hands — originally known as Tokyu Hands before it was acquired by home improvement store Cainz in 2022 — has a total of 98 stores, including sub-brands, beauty-focused “Hands Be,” and the curated retail store “Plugs Market,” while its offerings also span beauty, housewares and cleaning products.

Hands’ Shibuya store concept is distinct from other Hands stores in its aim for each floor to feel “like turning the pages of an encyclopedia and discovering a new world each time,” according to the company.

Frequented by tourists, the store has an infamously unique floor structure, with lettered sections and half mezzanine levels requiring specific staircases, which can be baffling to first-time visitors.

In its media release, the company described this confusion as a symbol of “the “joy of getting lost” while shopping.

“The spirit cultivated at the Hands Shibuya Store … will not disappear even after the physical store closes,” it said.

Hands is not the only retailer to exit Shibuya in recent months, as commercial real estate costs continue to rise at a rapid pace in the capital.

In March, the parent company of department store Seibu announced that it would close its Shibuya outlet in September after failing to extend its contract. Like Hands, Seibu is a longtime fixture of Shibuya, having first opened in 1968.

Costs in central wards reached around ¥33,233 per tsubo — roughly 1.82 meters by 1.82 meters — this month, up from ¥31,532 in January, according to Sanko Estate data.