Photo/Illutration Shoppers flock to buy 'fukubukuro' lucky bags in the food section of a department store in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on Jan. 2. (Shigetaka Kodama)

New Year’s sales at the nation’s top department stores outperformed last year’s, as consumers turned out in droves thanks to the absence of COVID-19 restrictions and nicer weather.

The return of foreign tourists also enhanced results from duty-free shopping, according to representatives from major department store chains.

Many of the stores started their first sales of the year on Jan. 2.

Sales over Jan. 2 and 3 jumped by around 12 percent from last year at 19 of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd.’s department stores.

Isetan’s main Shinjuku outlet, as well as Mitsukoshi’s main Nihonbashi store and Ginza outlet, saw their sales on those two days surge 20 to 33 percent compared with 2021.

The cold weather lifted winter clothing sales, while spring garments from luxury brands also performed well, according to the company’s officials.

Duty-free sales at the company’s stores on Jan. 2 and 3 shot up by roughly 12 times from the same period last year.

Takashimaya department stores sold around 10 percent more than last year during the New Year’s sales period.

The company lined its shelves with more traditional “fukubukuro” lucky bags this year, which offer an assortment of goods at bargain prices without consumers knowing exactly what is inside.

Takashimaya officials said because of inflation, fukubukuro packed with daily necessities like food and socks were popular this year.

Daimaru and Matsuzakaya department stores saw their profits increase by 9 percent from last year’s sales period.

Meanwhile, Sogo & Seibu Co.’s department stores started their sales earlier. From Jan. 1 to 3, sales rose 5 percent from the same period last year.

Restaurants at Sogo and Seibu stores saw sales over those three days increase by 10 percent from last year.

The number of foreign shoppers at Sogo and Seibu was 22 times more than last year, when the borders were closed to tourists. Duty-free sales jumped by 5.6 times from last year.

Department stores in western Japan enjoyed strong New Year’s sales as well, with Kintetsu Department Store’s Abeno Harukas Kintetsu main store in Osaka seeing its sales on Jan. 2 and 3 jump around 10 percent compared with last year.

Daimaru’s Shinsaibashi store in Osaka saw its sales rise by more than 30 percent from its previous New Year’s sales.

Hankyu department store’s Umeda main store and Hanshin department store’s Umeda main outlet, both in Osaka, also enjoyed brisk sales.

But while this year was better for major department stores, sales-period earnings have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels.

The best performer appears to have been Mitsukoshi’s main outlet in Nihonbashi, which fell just 1 percent shy of its 2020 sales results.

But it was an exception.

Sales at Isetan, Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya, Daimaru and Matsuzakaya department stores were some 20 percent lower than in 2020.

The department stores said even with the large crowds, the number of shoppers who turned out over the New Year’s sales period have still not returned to pre-COVID levels.

(This article was written by Takashi Yoshida and Kazumi Tako.)

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