The top 100 shopping centres continue to grow. After a great year in FY2013, with sales rising an average of 4.2%, the leading SCs overcame the downturn in spending in 1H2014 to finish with another 3.9% jump in FY2014. The top selling SCs fared much better than the sector as a whole, which was flat […]
Lumine just signed a franchise deal with an overseas pizza chain. Nothing particularly unusual about that, but what is radical is that it is a direct franchise, and Lumine has plans for more, not only in dining but also in apparel, accessories and home fashion. It is even looking at Lumine-managed select shops. JR East’s […]
The small format chain ambitions of the major department stores are a great opportunity for overseas brands to reach new parts of the country and new customers. Isetan Salone was there first and is very much a high end select shop, but now Takashimaya has come up with its own chain, one designed specifically for […]
Investment in converting stations and surrounding areas into shopping centres and community hubs has paid serious dividends for railway operators. FY2014 saw solid growth on a like for like basis, but closure of properties for rebuilding and refurbishment, combined with some correction following the 2014 tax hike, meant a contraction in revenues for some. This […]
Retail results for FY2014 show just how well corporate retailing weathered the impact of the consumption tax increase in April 2014. Market share for the largest companies continues to grow, as does the percentage of sales taken up by private brands, but dynamism is also reflected in the emergence of new success stories. These are […]
Mitsui Real Estate will open five major malls this year, including its first outlet mall in Hokuriku and a 90,000 sqm mega mall in Osaka. While Aeon plans to add even more new leasable space this year, Mitsui still remains the second biggest SC developer by new mall development, and continues to consolidate its SC […]
Outlet Malls continue to expand in Japan and Mitsui and Mitsubishi lead the way with some 80% of the market. The malls are now so popular and generate such traffic, both from domestic customers and tourists, that more and more brands are opening outlet stores with much wider strategic intent than just to sell off […]
Isetan-Mitsukoshi’s spate of innovations in the last year has included most segments and most areas of Japanese life but there was one that seemed out of reach until now: the teen market. Last month it unveiled the latest iteration of its Alta shopping building in Harajuku, a festival of pink that may turn into a […]
Lalaport Izumi is the latest in Mitsui’s growing chain of large, suburban family shopping centres. While some developers still aim at broad customer segments in the hope of attracting customers from a wide area, many suffer from low footfall during weekdays, but Mitsui is once again proving that it is able to target local shopping […]
Despite tight labour markets in construction and retail which led Aeon and others to halve the number of planned SCs this year, 2015 looks like being another strong year for new shopping malls, both in suburban and city centre locations, with Nagoya a particular focus for investment. 2015 looks set to be another strong year […]
JR West will open the second section of its Lucua SC in April, with eight Isetan stores and another 150 tenants, making it the biggest station SC in the country and providing yet more competition for the Umeda area in Osaka. The former Isetan-Mitsukoshi Osaka will reopen 2 April as Lucua 1100, a few days […]
Shopping centres had a great year in FY2013 thanks to higher spending on fashions, food and lifestyle goods. The top selling SCs fared much better than the sector as a whole. The increase in spending before the tax hike on non-essential high ticket items such as fashion and the sharp rise in tourism helped lift […]
JR West will unveil a new section to its Lucua SC at Osaka Station next Spring, taking over 30,000 sqm of sales space from Isetan-Mitsukoshi. The latter will no longer have a contiguous sales space of its own, forced instead to operate separate sales areas as small stores. Ironically, this may turn out to be […]
Takashimaya Tamagawa has been one of the most successful department stores over the last two decades, and continues to hold its own despite a wealth of new competition in the area around Futako Tamagawa. It continues to update its sales floors, introducing new tenants and directly managed space to keep the locals keen. No wonder […]
Isetan-Mitsukoshi continues to take direct control of parts of its sales floors. The new areas are being turned into self-managed concessions and mini shopping centres in order to clarify the positioning of each branch to better suit local traffic. All of this means opportunities for overseas brands. The latest are a select shop for the […]
Aeon’s SC expansion has been unprecedented in the last 10 years, so much so that new SCs pass in a blur. Aeon makes many claims for new malls, with each one presented as a the latest, mould-breaking new model, but in December Aeon will genuinely open one of the most important SCs in years in […]
Aeon is planning to open childcare facilities in each of its 140 SCs across the country, with a target of at least one in each prefecture by 2018. A key aim is to provide extended hour services for its own employees in a bid to help expand the number of female managers, but it will […]
Shopping centres are at the heart of Aeon’s business. By late 2016, Aeon will have completed a series of large scale malls stretching across the country, including improved entertainment features, better location targeting, and improved integration with other retail banners in the group. The only problem is that 70% of Aeon’s existing malls are in […]
The number of newly opened SCs doubled in 2013 compared to 2012, and a similar number is in the pipeline for this year too. More competition is good news for retailers and brands, but means choosing ever more carefully where to locate stores and which retailers to sell to. A shift towards more diverse merchandising […]
Railway operators continue to accumulate more share of retail sales, with a welcome impact on their bottom line. As well as upgrades to existing buildings, making stations much more attractive places to shop and dine, railway operators and partner developers like Aeon are building more station shopping centres every year with wide variation in SC […]
