[4] Arising from the Meiji Restoration, the company was founded in 1869 in Yokohama as Tsuruya, a store selling cotton for kimono.

In 1889, it bought Imagawa Matsuya, a Tokyo kimono fabric store founded in 1776, and adopted the latter's name because of its historic lineage.

[1] In the 1960s, the Ginza branch held two well-regarded art exhibitions: "From Space to Environment" and "Good Design".

[5] In 1971, Matuya began a loose partnership / cooperation agreement with Isetan, another Japanese department store.

On 27 September 2012, Asakusa-Matsuya was renewed as "EKIMISE" and exteriors were changed to the former Asakusa-Matsuya which was opened in 1931 because Tokyo Skytree was opened[7] In April 2019, Matsuya held a promotion to celebrate the announcement of the new imperial era name, Rei-wa, providing special treatment for customers whose names contained either of the Chinese characters rei or wa.