苦境打開へ変革待ったなし　百貨店再生へ初会合―経産省

　経済産業省は２日、地方を中心に苦境にあえぐ百貨店の再生策を議論するため、有識者や業界関係者らによる研究会（座長・伊藤元重学習院大教授）の初会合を開いた。夏をめどに提言を取りまとめ、流通関連政策に反映させる。同省の畠山陽二郎商務・サービス審議官は「百貨店は待ったなしの変革が必要だ」と活発な議論を呼び掛けた。
　百貨店は、高度成長期を通じて豊かになった日本の消費文化を支えたと評価される一方、１９９０年代のバブル崩壊を機に売り上げの減少傾向が続く。近年は郊外の大型商業施設やインターネット通信販売の台頭に、新型コロナウイルス感染拡大に伴う外出自粛が三重苦となり、閉店ラッシュの波が地方から都市圏に及び始めている。
　研究会では少子高齢化に伴う人手不足、食品ロス削減といった社会的な課題にも対応できる百貨店再生策について討議。商品需要の多様化を踏まえＩＴを活用した調達・販売の効率化、働き方改革を支える営業時間・休日の拡充などが課題に挙がった。
　日本百貨店協会によると、昨年は大沼（山形市）、中合（福島市）の老舗を含む１２店が閉店し、全国店舗数は半世紀ぶりに２００店を割り込んだ。（2021/03/02-21:10）

A Japanese industry ministry panel on measures to revitalize department stores, mainly those in the countryside, which continue to struggle amid a host of challenges, held its first meeting on Tuesday.
   The group, comprising experts and representatives from the department store industry, and headed by Gakushuin University professor Motoshige Ito, plans to draw up a set of proposals by summer. The proposals will be reflected in the ministry's strategy for the distribution sector.
   "Department stores have no time to waste in promoting reforms," Yojiro Hatakeyama, director-general for commerce and service industry policy at the ministry, said at the meeting, calling on panel members to hold active discussions.
   Japanese department stores had supported consumption since the postwar economic boom, but have been seeing a downtrend in sales following the collapse of the nation's bubble economy in the early 1990s.
   Recently, the industry has been facing tough competition from large suburban commercial facilities and online shopping services while suffering a decrease in customers due to the trend to stay home amid the novel coronavirus crisis. Subsequently, a wave of department store closures is starting to spread from rural regions to urban areas.