As pandemic spurs a tidying-up frenzy, Japan's market for second-hand goods booms
14/12/2020 01:00
By Kim Kyung Hoon
TOKYO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - When Japan announced a state of
emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, people were
urged to declutter their homes to pass the time, with Tokyo's
governor even roping in household-organising celebrity Marie
Kondo in promotional videos.
Many have taken that message to heart and the market for
second-hand luxury goods is booming as a result.
Mitsuko Iwama, a 71-year-old housewife, is a case in point.
Pre-pandemic, she would have been spending a lot of time at the
gym but after being stuck at home and cleaning her closets more
often, she decided to part ways with kimonos that her parents
bought her decades ago.
"I thought it was a waste to leave the kimonos just hanging
up, and if someone from a younger generation would wear them,
that would make me happy," said Iwama, who sold 22 kimonos for
4,000 yen ($38).
Buysell Technologies Co Ltd 7685.T , the company used by
Iwama which collects goods from people's homes and resells them
through online stores and at old-style in-person auctions, has
been one of the biggest beneficiaries of pandemic-induced
tidying.
Visits to people's homes surged 31% to 20,990 in October
from a year ago, the company said, adding that three quarters of
its customers are in their 50s or older, selling kimonos, luxury
handbags and jewellery.
Similarly, Mercari Inc 4385.T , which operates a popular
flea market app, reported a 52% jump in sales for its
July-September quarter compared with the same period a year
earlier.
A surge in the value of gold this year as the pandemic
spurred demand for safe-haven assets has also prompted people to
sell rings and necklaces that had just been sitting around, adds
BuySell Chief Executive Kyohei Iwata.
"There's a term in Japanese, "danshari", which means
minimise your life. People's mindsets have changed that way," he
said.
($1 = 104.4800 yen)
(Reporting by Kim Kyung Hoon; Writing by Ju-min Park; Editing
by Edwina Gibbs)
((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))