Department store sales fell 4.3 percent in 2008 to ¥7.38 trillion on a same-store basis, down for the 12th straight year and the third-largest fall under the current data system introduced in 1965, an industry body said Monday.
The dip was due largely to sluggish sales of clothing, a main sales item for department stores, amid lower consumption, according to the Japan Department Stores Association.
The sales level continued to decline from the ¥7.5 trillion logged in 1987.
Sales of clothing in 2008 decreased 6.2 percent year to ¥2.71 trillion on a 6.7 percent fall in sales of women's wear to ¥1.76 trillion, the association said.
Department store sales in Tokyo shrank 4.1 percent last year.
For December alone, department store sales dived 9.4 percent from a year earlier to ¥794.7 billion, down for the 10th straight month and the largest decline in yearend sales, it said.