Hong Kong's Yata set to open three stores as weaker yen boosts sales
Depreciation of Japanese currency by 25 per cent since September drives sales higher as company prepares to open three new stores
Department store chain Yata, the Japan-themed retail unit of Sun Hung Kai Properties, is expanding as sales rise on the back of the weaker yen that is making goods cheaper.
Yata's total retail area will increase by one-third to 400,000 square feet after three new stores are opened between June and September. A new store in Tsuen Wan will be the firm's first in two years. It last opened one, a supermarket in San Po Kong, in September 2011. The other two shops will be supermarkets in Tuen Mun and Mong Kok.
One reason for the acceleration of the chain's expansion is the unusual opportunity presented to it by the vacating of a large site in Tsuen Wan Plaza by Aeon Stores (Hong Kong). Aeon moved to a nearby site.
It is not easy to get new space for a department store, as Hong Kong landlords tend to break the shopping mall into smaller shops for greater return
"It is not easy to get new space for a department store, as Hong Kong landlords tend to break the shopping mall into smaller shops for greater return," Yata managing director Daniel Chong Wai-chung said.
When it opens on June 28, the 87,000 square foot Tsuen Wan store will compete against several nearby stores, including Aeon and Citistore.
"Tsuen Wan's market potential is untapped. It is an old district where many of its residents have finished paying off their mortgages. Their disposable incomes are high, although the average income in the district is lower than what it is in Tai Po," Chong said.
He expects the new store's sales to be 65 per cent of those at the one in Tai Po, given that the two stores are similar in size.