Large Retail Store Sales Down for a Decade
The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry released aggregate sales figures for large retail stores in Kyushu and Okinawa for FY 2009, which showed a 5.2% year-on-year decline to 1.5188 trillion yen. This is the tenth consecutive decline for this retail sector. The bureau attributed the declines to the continuing slump in consumption and the decline in product prices caused by intensified competition.