Japan’s oldest department stores on life support amid coronavirus and a failure to adapt to changing shopping habits
- Plunging sales have seen department store chains close branches as consumers remain wary of shopping and with tourism decimated
- Policymakers fear store failures may sow the seeds of crisis in regional economies
After more than three centuries in business, the Onuma department store in the northern Japanese city of Yamagata began bankruptcy proceedings this year – one of many distinguished department stores across the country in dire straits.
Known for fancy food halls, luxury items, impeccable service and, in their heyday, rooftop attractions to entertain families, Japan’s department stores have been in a long, slow decline as shopping habits change.
Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay neighbourhood was once home to Japanese department stores Daimaru (which opened in 1960), Matsuzakaya, Mitsukoshi and Sogo, but only the latter remains in business.
In Japan, the coronavirus pandemic is hammering nails into coffins for some of those stores that have clung on – particularly in the regions. Last month, 146-year-old Nakago closed the doors of its last remaining store in Fukushima in the north, while Izutsuya, a chain in the southern city of Kitakyushu, closed one of its two main stores.
“Everyone agrees it’s very disappointing, but the truth is that people haven’t been shopping at these stores lately,” said Shuhei Yamashita, a retail consultant who hopes to buy the Onuma department store from creditors and turn it around.