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Why department stores are thriving in Japan even as the US sector shrinks

Inside Retail

For once, department stores are leading a retail sales recovery instead of lagging it. Supermarkets (5,921 stores) gained 1.8 per cent but the big winners were department stores (190 of them) performing well above the average, with a 13.5 METI counted 190 department stores for its first quarter survey.

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Amazon to test department stores in offline expansion

Inside Retail

Amazon.com is to open several department stores in its home US market to test the concept as it continues to build out its multichannel business model. Department stores’ share of the overall US market has fallen from 14.5 It is also testing automated, cashier-less convenience stores in several markets.

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The Department Store dilemma

Retail Focus

Unfortunately for many department stores, the pandemic has been a final blow in the battle with online retail, spiralling real estate costs and difficulty serving up physical retail that is consistently experiential, engaging and adaptable. So, what is to become of these extinct department stores?

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How can department stores pivot ahead of a spending decline?

Inside Retail

The biggest swing occurred in department store spending, which saw a 14.3 Especially in department stores, where the consumer appetite to spend appears to have fallen so dramatically between November and December? When it comes to the big department stores, there needs to be a differentiation.

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“Not surprised”: Experts react to Amazon’s reported department store plan

Inside Retail

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that online retail giant Amazon is looking to open large bricks-and-mortar stores in the US to sell clothing, homewares, electronics and other products, much like a department store. And it would come at a time when some long-running department stores are closing up shop.

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The China Syndrome: Japan department stores missing tourist shoppers

Inside Retail

Isetan-Mitsukoshi is a storied department store chain with 15 units in Japan, including five in the Tokyo metropolitan area. One of them, the Isetan flagship in Shinjuku, boasts the highest sales of any department store in Japan. Sales at Isetan-Mitsukoshi’s Tokyo metro stores are up 33.3 billion yen, or about $2.5

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Japanese department store Takashimaya looks to the future

Inside Retail

Living in a building of historic importance gives one of the world’s pre-eminent luxury department store companies that extra little bit of cache — the trick now is to find ways of being a retailer of future importance, a stiff hurdle upon which so many department store companies are stumbling. Footfall was up 6.4%