Hanshin Department Store Ltd. said Wednesday its special sale after the Hanshin Tigers won their first Central League pennant in 18 years brought in about 4 billion yen in sales.
The size of the extra revenue is roughly the same as that in 1985, when the Tigers last won the league and Hanshin Department Store had a similar weeklong bargain sale, the company said.
Hanshin Department Store is part of the corporate group led by Osaka-based Hanshin Electric Railway Co., the owner of the professional baseball team.
The department store chain held the special sale between Sept. 16, the day after the Tigers clinched the title, and Sept. 23 at its outlets. It drew more than 200,000 people each day and the number of visitors reached about 1.7 million overall.
At Tiger-specific shops, about half of 100 special items to celebrate the victory sold out and the shops' sales in September alone are expected to reach 1 billion yen, compared with 960 million yen for all of 2002.
Hanshin Department Store has yet to announce specific plans for a special sale if the Tigers win next month's Japan Series championship against the winner of the Pacific League.
Teruyuki Saegusa, president of Hanshin Department Store, has forecast that the impact of a Japan Series special sale would likely match the 2 billion yen effect seen when the Tigers won the championship in 1985.