Dept stores begin 2011 business with lucky bags, winter bargains

Shoppers jostle to buy “fukubukuro” bags at Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi on Sunday.
SANKEI

Sunday 02nd January, 04:30 PM JST

TOKYO —

Major department stores kicked off business for 2011 on Sunday as crowds of shoppers sought ‘‘lucky bags’’ filled with discount goods and other New Year bargains.

Department stores are hoping the New Year sales will help lead to a recovery in consumption among thrifty consumers.

Mitsukoshi Ltd’s flagship store in Tokyo’s Nihombashi district opened at 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, as many people were lined up in front of the store. As one of the features of its New Year sales, the store was offering lucky bags filled with clothing for 10,500 yen.

Takashimaya Co prepared luxury lucky bags containing tickets for a cruise tour to the Antarctica, priced at 1.8 million yen, to mark the 180th anniversary of its founding.

The Seibu flagship store in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro, meanwhile, offered a series of lucky bags named after recent booms in Japan. They included lucky bags containing outdoor items for ‘‘yama (mountain) girls,’’ the nickname for the growing number of women taking to the hills in fashionable garb, and those including lunchbox and other items for ‘‘bento danshi,’’ or men who fix their own home-made lunches.