Takashimaya to Continue Shortening Hours at Shinjuku Store in Tokyo after Lifting Declaration

Takashimaya, a major department store, has decided to continue to shorten business hours at its store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, even after the declaration of a state of emergency is lifted. In addition to the fact that consumers are refraining from going out at night, Takashimaya aims to improve the long working hours of its employees.

Since the emergency declaration was issued in January this year, Takashimaya has shortened the opening hours of most of its stores in the affected areas by up to one hour.

In Osaka and other areas where the state of emergency has already been lifted, Takashimaya has returned to normal business hours, but the Shinjuku store in Tokyo has decided to continue to shorten its hours even after the state of emergency is lifted on the 21st of this month.

With the exception of a few specialty stores, the hours of operation will be shortened by one hour from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. before the emergency declaration.

The company says that the reason for the shortened opening hours is to correct the long working hours of employees working on the sales floor and apparel manufacturers and to improve their work styles, in addition to the fact that consumers are refraining from going out at night and the number of customers is declining.

Among department stores, Matsuya in Ginza, Tokyo is also planning to shorten its business hours by one hour for the time being, except for some sales areas.

The movement to shorten business hours is also spreading to local commercial facilities.

The movement to shorten business hours to improve long working hours is also spreading to local commercial facilities.

New Shizuoka Senova, a commercial facility in Shizuoka City, will introduce a system on a trial basis in May this year that allows tenants of clothing and other products to decide their opening hours within a certain range. Each tenant can decide to open one hour later or close one hour earlier than the opening hours of 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at their own discretion.

This was made possible by a call from the major apparel company, Industry, and it is being watched closely to see if it will improve the working environment.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210318/k10012920861000.html?utm_int=news-business_contents_list-items_007