JAPAN. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Narita International Airport Corporation, NAA Retailing and JATCo today confirmed a deal to establish a duty free operation within the downtown department store’s flagship outlet in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The 3,300sq m store is slated to open in Autumn 2015, on the eighth floor of the Mitsukoshi downtown outlet. The news confirms the details of our initial story from yesterday.
The tentative name of the new venture is Japan Duty Free Fa-So-La Isetan Mitsukoshi and the shop will trade under the name Japan Duty Free Ginza. JATCo will hold a 45% stake with Isetan Mitsukoshi and Narita Airport each holding 27.5%. The joint venture was set up with an initial US$10 million of capital.
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The 3,300sq m store will be located on the eighth floor of Isetan Mitsukoshi’s Ginza flagship outlet in downtown Tokyo |
The companies said they planned to “mobilise their resources and know-how of the duty free industry” to further promote the business to visitors. The goal, they noted in a statement today, was to stimulate demand among travellers and “enhance the convenience of foreigners visiting Japan”.
As reported, the outlet will be the first duty free store in downtown Tokyo, offering goods exempt from tariffs as well as alcohol and tobacco taxes – as opposed to the many downtown stores offering products free only of sales tax.
