Sales at Tokyo department stores fell 4.8 percent in April from a year earlier to 166.6 billion yen, the fifth straight monthly decline, the Japan Department Stores Association said in a preliminary report Wednesday.
The association attributed the fall to a range of factors such as a decline in large-lot demand from corporate customers and the sharp temperature swings in April that dissuaded consumers from buying spring or early summer clothes.
Sales of clothes, the largest commodity sector among department store merchandise, dropped 2.6 percent to 66.57 billion yen.
Food sales, another major merchandise category, declined 1.9 percent to 28.24 billion yen.
Sales of household goods, such as electric appliances and furniture, declined 4.3 percent to 27.42 billion yen.
The report covers sales at 28 stores operated by 13 department stores in Tokyo's 23 wards.