As competition to attract customers grows fierce among domestic retailers, some have begun staffing their stores and showrooms with a new breed of customer-service experts — the chic-sounding "concierges."
The idea is to win shoppers' loyalty by offering the kind of professional expertise exhibited by hotel concierges when attending to guests.
The Uniqlo clothing chain has introduced nearly 20 concierges at its flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district, which opened last March.