Aeon to shut 100 women's clothes shops in '09 -
Nikkei
April 29 (Reuters) - Japan's
second-largest retailer Aeon Co Ltd (8267.T) will shut 100 casual
women's clothing shops in fiscal 2009, the Nikkei business daily
said.
Additionally, Blue Grass Co (7478.Q)
and Cox Co (9876.Q) have also announced plans to close stores and
cut back store expansion plans for 2009, it said.
Many Japanese retailers have been
struck by low customer spending on clothing and non-daily
essentials while the economy crawls through its deepest recession
in decades.
On April 14, Aeon reported its
first annual net loss in seven years, and had warned of tougher
times ahead.
Casual apparel store unit Cox Co
said will close around 10 percent of its stores and slash new store
openings by 80 percent to just six, while Blue Grass plans to close
100 stores this fiscal year, twice as many as in fiscal
2008.
For 2009, Blue Grass plans to open
only 19 new stores -- 30 percent fewer than the earlier year, the
Nikkei business daily said.
(Reporting by Nivedita
Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad
Kakkrakandy)