Whenever a professional baseball team clinches the pennant, the team's affiliated retail concern throws a big yusho (victory) bargain sale in celebration. However, over the past decade, many of the department stores connected to specific teams have either gone out of business or been absorbed by other department stores.
The Yomiuri Giants may be the most popular team in Japanese baseball, but their one-time retail affiliate, Sogo, has shrunk to, like, one store in Yokohama. Who wants to go all the way to Yokohama to celebrate?
Well, being the most popular team in the country does have it advantages, and a dozen or more stores—not the just the department kind—are cashing in on the Giants' pennant win on Wednesday with bargain sales of different shapes, sizes and lengths.
Nationwide, all Mitsukoshi and Isetan department stores (but not Shinjuku, oddly enough—Swallows fans?) are participating, as are Seven & I Holdings retailers—Ito Yokado and Seven Eleven. There are also one-offs like Printemps and Marronnier Gate in Ginza, and even department stores in the Kansai region like Kintetsu. Didn't they used to own the Buffaloes?
Talk about fair weather fans.
