Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., the nation's largest department store, and J. Front Retailing Co., operator of the Daimaru and Matsuzakaya stores, said Saturday that revenue from New Year bargain sales at their main outlets fell as consumers curbed spending.
Sales at Isetan Mitsukoshi's main store in Shinjuku fell 8 percent to ¥2.55 billion on Jan. 2, spokesman Yoshitake Mori said by telephone Saturday. The decline ends five years of record revenue on the date, he said.
J. Front's Daimaru store in Umeda, Osaka, saw a 7 percent decline as shoppers eschewed more expensive apparel in favor of food and household products, spokeswoman Chise Mori said. She didn't give specific sales figures.
Revenue at the Seibu department store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, operated by Seven & I Holdings Co., was unchanged from last year, said spokesman Takeshi Abe.