An airport terminal, duty-free shops and a department store chain are teaming up to open an airport-style duty-free store in Tokyo's ritzy Ginza district.
Japan Airport Terminal Co., NAA Retailing Corp. and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. will open Japan Duty Free Ginza on the eighth floor of the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store next fall.
While the duty-free stores in tourist spots eliminate the sales tax, the new store will also ditch tariffs, just like the stores at airports.
According to the operators, the new store will be the first of its kind outside Okinawa.
"Japan is promoting and strengthening tourism promotion policies (to attract more tourists), and I think this kind of tax-free store in the metropolitan area will form part of an infrastructure to serve visitors," said Japan Airport Terminal President Isao Takashiro at a news conference.
Anybody from foreign travelers to Japanese going abroad can buy things at the store if they show their passport and an airplane ticket. The purchases can be picked up at either Narita or Haneda airports before takeoff.
The operators said the store will carry luxury brands, jewelry and cosmetics and are projecting ¥10 billion in sales in the first year.
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