JAPANESE DEPARTMENT STORES MOVE ABROAD

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28920, 13 June 1959, Page 10

JAPANESE DEPARTMENT STORES MOVE ABROAD

Branches In New York And Many Other Cities [From a Reuter Correspondent] • TOKYO. Japanese department stores, which specialise in selling almost every commodity (except tombstones) and which also offer cultural and entertainment facilities, are seeking overseas business with the current “Japan boom” in foreign countries. After the opening of a branch in New York last October by the Takashimaya department store, other big Japanese department stores are planning to open their branches abroad and exchange displays with foreign goods.

Takashimaya’s store in New York sells traditional Japanese household furnishings such as the shoji (paper sliding door), scrolls, Japanese cushions, lacquer ware, bamboo products, ceramics, and the attractive kimono. Emphasis is on the products of Japanese traditional handicrafts.

Shirokiya will shortly open a branch store in Honolulu. It will be located at the Ala Moana shopping centre, now under construction near Waikiki Beach.

Tokyo is now constructing a five-storey branch store in Teheran under a joint investment plan with Iran’s Royal family. Both Japanese and Iranian merchandise will be sold in the department store.

Hankyu is planning to open a branch in Los Angeles where it will concentrate on selling Japanese folkcrafts to customers along the Pacific Coast. Daimaru is studying the possibility of opening branches in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The Japanese Government is giving “flank support” to these plans for introducing traditional folkcrafts which are often neglected by the normal export trade.

Major Japanese department stores are also planning exchange shows with department stores in Italy, Mexico, Finland, and Sweden this summer; Sweden has already made two interchanges with Japan, and one with Italy. Denmark, though not covered in the current drive, has also made one‘exchange of shows recently. Similar interchanges are also expected before the end of the year with Spain, Britain, Belgium, Australia, West Germany, Yugoslavia and Poland. The Takashimaya Company is planning to introduce a coupon system for American tourists visiting Japan. It will be the first service of its kind in Japan covering this country’s retail business. The department store is expected to sign a contract shortly with the American Express Bank extending the latter’s coupon system to the store.

Under . this plan the American bank will issue coupon tickets worth 250 United States dollars to ■ tourists for exclusive use in Takashimaya stores. The coupons will be cashed at the Tokyo brdhch of the bank with a 10 per cent, deduction for its services. Japanese department stores have become so complete and selfsufficient that a whole family can spend a day there. A young woman will never be bored with their eye-catching merchandise, an exhibition of make-up by a specialist, and the occasional fashion shows. Children can spend hours at a playground or a miniature zoo on the roof. Father, if he plays golf, can practise his drives and putts. Dining rooms are available. Some stores even provide theatres. A couple can be married, have their picture taken, and hold their wedding reception in a store. They can even hire their wedding

costumes while the travel agency located within the store will buy the tickets for the honeymoon and make hotel reservations for the newly-weds.

The latest official statistics show that sales by department stores throughout the nation increased "to 309,951 million yet (£309,951,000 sterling) in 1057 compared with 258,898 million .yen (£258,898,000 sterling) in 1956 and 177,641 million yet (£177,641,000 sterling) in 1953.

Sales during the first six months of 1958 increased by 10.3 per cent, .to 128,100 million yen (£128,100,000 sterling) from the corrseponding period of 1957.