Department store operator Matsuzakaya Co. announced Tuesday it will close its loss-making outlet in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, on May 31.
Matsuzakaya, based in Nagoya, does not expect sales at the Yokkaichi store to rebound due to the nation's sluggish personal consumption and stiffening retail competition.
"Recent changes in the business environment, including the introduction of international accounting standards and cutthroat competition beyond the traditional boundary of business sectors, have made it difficult for loss-making stores to continue to exist," Matsuzakaya President Kunihiko Okada said at a news conference.
Sales at the Yokkaichi store have been declining since reaching their peak in fiscal 1992 due in part to increased competition by the entry of Jusco Co. and other large suburban outlet operators into the area.
The Yokkaichi store, which accounts for roughly 3 percent of total sales at Matsuzakaya's 10 stores, posted sales of 12 billion yen with a cumulative 18.8 billion yen loss in the 1999 business year ending in February 2000.
Matsuzakaya opened its Yokkaichi outlet in the AMsquare commercial complex, located in front of Kinki Nippon Railway's Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station, in 1991. The outlet has a total floor space of about 23,000 sq. meters.