Sogo & Seibu reports 25% jump in New Year sales

Business Jan. 07, 2013 - 06:46AM JST ( 0 )

TOKYO —

Department store Sogo & Seibu Co said that its sales for the first three days of 2013 were up 25% over last year.

Sogo & Seibu Co opened its stores on New Year’s Day for the first time ever, while three rival department store chains remained closed, opening for business on Jan 2. Those three other department store operators reported a 2-4% decrease in sales for Jan 2-4, Sankei Shimbun reported.

Seibu department store in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro said more than 20,000 people packed the store on Jan 1. It said that it prepared 150,000 “fukubukro” (lucky bags) and had sold most of them by Friday.

Store officials said Jan 1 drew a lot of grandparents wanting to buy gifts for their grandchildren whom they usually only see on New Year or Golden Week holidays.

Japan Today