Retail in Asia

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Takashimaya to sell stake in Taipei department store

Takashimaya Co, a leading Japanese retailer, has decided to sell its stake in a jointly owned department store in Taipei to its partner as a way of withdrawing from the Taiwan retail market, the department store said yesterday.

Takashimaya is to sell its 50 percent stake in the Dayeh Takashimaya Department Store in Taipei’s Shilin District  to Dayeh Group, which owns the other half.

The stake is to be sold at a price of NT$492 million (US$15.04 million), according to local media reports.

The store once generated annual revenue of NT$5.8 billion, but has been encountering stiff competition in the Tianmu area since the Pacific Sogo Department Store  and the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store entered the market, analysts said.

In 2014, Takashimaya Dayeh spent NT$1.2 billion on a remodeling project, hoping that a new image would attract young consumers, but it has not been able to meet its goal of NT$5 billion in annual revenue.

Takashimaya Dayeh said that over the past 20 years, it has built a management team that largely comprises local talent, adding that the share sale is unlikely to affect its operations.

The withdrawal of Takashimaya from the department store business in Taipei follows a similar move in March by Japan-based Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, which was a joint owner of the Uni-President Hankyu department stores in Taipei and Kaohsiung for about 10 years.

(Source: Taipei Times )