Department stores sales in Japan fell 1.4 percent in July from a year earlier on a same-store basis, due partly to weak sales of clothes and food items, an industry body said Monday.
Sales at 229 stores run by 80 companies totaled ¥547 billion ($5.0 billion), the Japan Department Stores Association said. Sales decreased as most of the stores had moved their summer sale period to June, pushing down sales of clothes that would have sold well in July during a discount period.
By category, sales of clothing, which accounted for 29.8 percent of overall sales, declined 5.0 percent, while those of food items, furniture and other home-use items each dropped 2.0 percent.
Among 10 major cities, Nagoya posted a fall of 4.8 percent and Hiroshima a 3.4 percent drop from a year earlier.