New Year Sales Start at Major Department Stores

Tokyo, Jan. 2 (Jiji Press)--Major department stores in Japan started their New Year sales on Friday, the day after 2026 kicked off, offering varieties of "lucky bag" product packages to stimulate buying interest as much as possible amid inflation.

Sogo & Seibu Co.'s Sogo store in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, prepared about 30,000 lucky bags, including 2,026-yen packages containing jackets for men, as well as 250,000-yen packages featuring the right to select three colors to light up the city's symbolic Yokohama Marine Tower.

"Consumers' money-saving attitudes persist amid inflation, but some unreservedly spend on products they want and new experiences," said the Sogo store's manager, Takanobu Toyoda.

Before the store opened at 9 a.m., customers formed a long line outside the store. Leading the line was a customer who arrived at around 4:20 a.m.

"I plan to buy a lot today," a woman in her 30s from the nearby city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, said with a smile.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]