Takashimaya's September same-store sales rise 4.1% as duty-free spending accelerates to 12.8%

Takashimaya said in its October 1 monthly sales flash that domestic department-store sales across its network rose 2.4 per cent year on year in September, or 4.1 per cent on a same-store basis that strips out two stores closed during the past year. Duty-free sales climbed 12.8 per cent, while sales excluding duty-free rose a more modest 1.1 per cent overall, or 3.0 per cent same-store, the company said.

Among inbound shoppers, the company reported customer numbers up just 0.3 per cent year on year, with average spending per customer up 12.5 per cent — growth driven almost entirely by shoppers spending more, not more of them walking in. Takashimaya attributed the gain to continued strength in high-value goods alongside cosmetics, children's and hobby items, and sporting goods. Domestically, it said a drop in temperature pulled in demand for autumn wear such as jackets and stoles, which outperformed last year.

Flagships diverge from the suburbs

Store by store, the picture was uneven. Nihombashi, the group's Tokyo flagship, posted an 11.5 per cent gain, and Senboku jumped 12.6 per cent; Shinjuku rose 6.6 per cent and Omiya 5.4 per cent. Yokohama fell 1.9 per cent and Tamagawa 2.9 per cent, the only two of Takashimaya's domestic stores to post a decline. Kyoto's reported 1.9 per cent gain includes the now-closed Rakusai store, which stopped trading on August 3; stripped of Rakusai's prior-year sales, Takashimaya said, Kyoto alone rose 5.8 per cent. The Sakai store, closed since January 7, was also excluded from the same-store calculation. Every product category the company tracks — menswear, womenswear, premium select apparel, kimono, children's and hobby goods, sport, living and food among them — outsold last September on a same-store basis, while the group's e-commerce arm grew 16.9 per cent.

The gap between the headline same-store number and the ex-duty-free figure is the one to watch. With duty-free growth running at more than four times the ex-duty-free same-store pace, Takashimaya's September strength still rests disproportionately on inbound shoppers buying more per visit rather than more of them arriving. That leaves flagships that capture the bulk of inbound traffic, Nihombashi above all, pulling away from suburban doors such as Yokohama and Tamagawa that depend more on local, domestic footfall. Whether September's pace holds into the winter gift season will say more about the weather than about the underlying health of the domestic customer.