Jan 24 (Nikkei) - Japan's department store sales at existing locations grew for the first time in three years in 2017, edging up 0.1% to 5.95 trillion yen ($53.9 billion), the Japan Department Stores Association said Tuesday.
Existing store sales in Japan's 10 major cities, where wealthy customers and overseas visitors are most plentiful, climbed 1.2% to underpin the nationwide tally. Urban consumers spent more on luxury items, feeling wealthier from steadily rising stock prices.
Duty-free sales jumped 46% to 270.4 billion yen, surpassing the 194.3 billion yen record set in 2015, when tourists went on explosive shopping sprees. Sales of cosmetics, a popular souvenir, grew particularly strong at 17.1% as more routes from low-cost carriers increased visitors to Japan.
But sales for all stores fell 0.4% for the fourth straight year of such decreases. In addition to the number of locations covered by the survey falling by eight, the decline can be attributed to more department stores leasing out retail space to specialty shops.
Meanwhile, existing store sales for supermarkets in 2017 edged down 0.4% for the first drop in four years, the Japan Supermarket Association and two other industry groups said Tuesday. Sales at all stores totaled 10.6 trillion yen. A retreat in vegetable prices, which spiked last year, and poor catches of popular fish like Pacific saury affected the results.
