The coldest weather for 11 years helped the nation's largest department store chain break Lunar New Year's sales records.
"We have seen sales of NT$1.2 billion generated by our 11 outlets nationwide during the five-day New Year holiday from New Year's Eve [Wednesday] to Sunday, which is a record for our sales during this period since our establishment 13 years ago," Shauna Lee (
"The coldest weather during the holidays in the past 11 years prompted people to do more indoor activities, like shopping in department stores, which contributed a lot to our sales," Lee said.
Mitsukoshi's Taichung outlet recorded the highest sales during the holidays. Sales there grew 11 percent to NT$300 million.
Lee predicted that sales at all the nation's department stores could be as high as NT$4 billion for the holiday period.
"Spurred by the low temperatures, heaters and warm clothing are our best-sellers," Lee said. "Clearance sales of clothes plus parents' generosity in buying children's toys helped boost sales in this period as well."
Mitsukoshi's major rival, Pacific Sogo Department Store Group (太平洋崇光百貨), agreed with Lee's comments, adding that "lucky bags" containing popular products such as cosmetics and electronic items helped attract customers and lifted sales.
"Our Taipei outlet alone generated sales of NT$300 million over the five-day period ... an increase of 11 percent from last year, which is better than our expectations," said Nancy Ting (
Core Pacific City Mall (
"Our cinema was packed with customers who needed to queue for 20 minutes to buy tickets," said spokeswoman Alison Kao (高治華).
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