Jewellery and watches surge again at Japan's department stores, even as everyday sales stall
Nationwide department-store sales rose 2.3% in June, a sixth consecutive month of growth, according to the Japan Department Stores Association — but the gain rested almost entirely on jewellery, watches and tax-free tourist spending, as domestic sales fell for the first time in eleven months on poor early-summer weather.
Nationwide department-store sales rose 2.3% year on year in June, a sixth consecutive month of growth, the Japan Department Stores Association said in its monthly report released 24 July. The total came to ¥468.8bn across the 172 stores operated by the association's 68 member companies — a store count that itself keeps shrinking, down six outlets and two companies from a year earlier.