Major Japanese department store operators said Monday their sales in May dived up to about 80 percent from year-earlier levels as many of their outlets shut or reduced business hours under a nationwide state of emergency over the novel coronavirus.

However, the margins of the falls were narrower than in April because department stores resumed operations after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended the emergency in stages last month.

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. said its sales tumbled 78.1 percent, while sales of J. Front Retailing Co., operator of Daimaru and Matsuzakaya department stores, plunged 73.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Isetan Mitsukoshi's online sales jumped about 40 percent as people stayed home longer and ordered items such as electric appliances, fitness goods and wine, the operator said.

Many department stores across the country had shut except food sections in a bid to curb the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus until Abe lifted the state of emergency, issued in April, in 39 prefectures on May 14.

The operators gradually reopened their stores in regional areas following the lifting of the emergency, but many of those in the Tokyo metropolitan area and on the northern main island of Hokkaido remained closed until May 25 when the government declared an end to the emergency in those areas.

On Monday, Takashimaya Co., which reopened its 16 stores across the country by Wednesday, said its sales plunged 62.9 percent in the reporting month, with its duty-free sales down 98.7 percent.

Those of operator Sogo and Seibu Co. sank 61.5 percent, with its 15 stores in the country keeping their food floors open during the reporting month.

It fully reopened its outlets in the Tokyo metropolitan area on May 23.

==Kyodo

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