Sales at convenience stores in June rose 0.8% from a year before to ¥856.5 billion on a same-store basis, up for the fourth consecutive month, the Japan Franchise Association said Tuesday.
The sales growth, which followed a tumble in June last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, was slow as people refrained from going out amid the country’s third state of emergency over the pandemic.
In the reporting month, the number of visitors to convenience stores inched up 0.2%, failing to recover from the year-before slump of 11.6%, with the state of emergency in place in prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka until June 20.
Per-visitor spending grew 0.7% after increasing more than 7.0% a year before. Sales of alcohol and frozen food items were strong as more and more people enjoyed drinking at home.
By product, sales in the services category rose 3.9%, partly thanks to demand for tickets for online concerts.
Sales of nonfood items gained 2.0%, as toys featuring characters sold well.
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