Taking control
Unsurprisingly, the escalation of the pandemic across urban populations has taken a regrettably familiar toll on Japan¡¯s department stores. Whereas the closures during Japan¡¯s initial state of emergency in April last year were mandated, this month has prompted a scattering of voluntary closures as department stores take matters into their own hands.
Osaka¡¯s Hankyu Umeda flagship made the decision to close without warning over the weekend of July 31 through Aug. 1, followed by Lumine Est in Shinjuku from Aug. 4, after a rise in infections among building and shop staff. In retail, breaking transmission of a cluster usually means testing staff, ventilating the entire building and then disinfecting every surface in sight, and these stores ought to be applauded for taking quick decisive action.
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