More stores shutter in Tokyo's high-end Ginza Six mall amid travel bans

J. FRONT RETAILING

20/01/2021 04:48

TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - More than a dozen stores closed in
Tokyo's high-end Ginza Six  mall this week as the coronavirus
pandemic kept big spending foreign tourists and other luxury
shoppers away from an upscale shopping district famous for
brand-name boutiques.
    Ginza Six said on Wednesday that around 15 stores, including
Italian fashion house Moschino, cosmetics brands Shiseido and
Shu Uemura, as well as Salon des Parfums selling Annick Goutal
and other fragrance brands, have shut in the past few days.
    The retail complex opened in 2017 with around 240 stores,
mostly in the luxury category and catering heavily to foreign
visitors, with a large service centre offering tax refund
processing and luggage storage. 
    Until the pandemic closed Japan off to most tourists last
year, the retail complex was a symbol of the Ginza district's
revival as a popular destination for Asian tourists. Ginza had
struggled with deflation and shoppers' shift to other areas such
as Omotesando until an inbound tourism surge in the past decade.
 
    But global travel bans have kept foreign visitor numbers at
1-2% of year-ago levels since last April, according to data from
JTB Tourism & Consulting.
    Department stores in central Tokyo, heavily dependent on
tourists in the past several years, have been hit particularly
hard. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings'  3099.T  same-store sales fell
more than 30% in 2020, with sales for its Mitsukoshi Ginza store
down over 50%. 
    Investors in Ginza Six included Japanese department store
operator J.Front Retailing  3086.T , trading house Sumitomo Corp
 8053.T  and the real estate arm of U.S. private equity firm L
Catterton.

 (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Kim Coghill)
 ((Ritsuko.Ando@reuters.com; +81 3 6441 1743;))