When asked when Kinokuniya will be able to open freestanding stores as the other bookstores have done, Hisanao Obara says it straight: Kinokuniya is fighting it out and starting from the bottom. His number one goal is to make it so that when readers "want to buy Japanese books, they will come to Kinokuniya." Only when that's been accomplished from inside the department stores will they take that next step.
當被問到紀伊國屋何時也能像其他書店般，有獨立的門市書店時，總經理小原久直表示，目前仍是紀伊國屋整軍經武、重新出發的時候，他希望能夠做到的，就是愛書人「想買日文書，就會來到紀伊國屋。」