The Japan Chain Stores Association (56 firms, 10,798 stores) reported that same-store sales of apparel in May 2020 fell 30.5% compared to the same month of last year to 32,427 million yen.
As a result of the coronavirus, the stores voluntarily refrained from opening on a full-scale basis, and this had a great impact on their sales.
Sales of household goods decreased by 2.8% to 208,574 million yen. As people stayed and ate more at home, sales of groceries grew 14.1% to 764,267 million yen, and covered the decreases in other categories.
Total sales rose 1.3% in May to 1,083,355 million yen.
In men’s wear, sales of poloshirts and T-shirts were favorable, while sales of business wear including suits were slow.
Favorable items in women’s wear were blouse, T-shirts, cut-and-sewn articles and bottoms, but formal wear and suits were in a stagnant condition.
In other garments, pajamas, aprons and fashionable face masks sold well, but sales were slow for underwear, school swimwear and UV-protection articles.
