The Isetan Haneda Store opened on April 20th of this year on the second floor of the North Wing of Haneda Airport's Domestic Terminal 1. Launched as a joint venture between the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group and Japan Airport Terminal 1, the store garnered attention as a concrete example of the group's goal of "expanding and enhancing customer touchpoints." Drawing on the expertise of the Isetan Men's Building, the store offers a curated selection of men's accessories and food and beverages. The approximately 850-square-meter floor space is divided into four themes (Relax, Lounge, Jet Set, and Sweet Gift) based on the key concepts of business and vacation. The store offers products from approximately 200 domestic and international brands, selected by the group's buyers. The store also boasts meticulous services designed for busy jet-setters, including a cafe serving coffee selected by coffee hunter Yoshiaki Kawashima, a B Bar produced by Baccarat, a shoe shine bar offering shoe maintenance and consultations, and a guest room with an adjacent fitting room. As this is a unique store where entry is restricted to those without a boarding pass, we were curious to learn about its customer base, sales, and sales mix. We interviewed store manager Shinichi Kojima on a December day, about eight months after the store opened. "The key difference with the Men's Building is the high rate of repeat customers. We see around 1,000 to 1,200 customers per day. Customers who make two round trips per week visit us three or four times a month. Our purchase rate is also extremely high, at around 15%, and we believe we're supported by familiar customers. Depending on the type of card they use, 60 to 70 percent of our customers are men. About 40 percent of the total are high-income earners such as doctors and self-employed people. I'd say the average customer spend on men's goods is around 15,000 yen." Due to its location, our base of business is JAL passengers bound for Hokkaido, Aomori, and Osaka. Approximately 11,000 people pass through the aisle in front of the store daily. A store occupancy rate of about 10% is not bad. However, the store says that there were some unexpected aspects in sales and sales composition.
"Overall sales were 95% of budget. Men's accessories were strong, but food and beverage sales did not grow as expected. Food sales were affected by the large number of customers purchasing individual items."
Initially, the store anticipated demand from jet-setters for additional purchases, but there were some miscalculations here as well. For example, Globe-Trotter travel cases have been selling consistently every month.
"The target demographic is customers living in Hokkaido. Globe-Trotter does not have a sales outlet in Hokkaido. In other words, rather than shopping for essentials for travel, many customers bought items they had been interested in or wanted.
Being a convenience store was exactly what the store intended, but that doesn't mean customers could buy forgotten items here, but rather items they had been wanting for a while. The convenience of being able to pick up items purchased at other group stores at the store is also popular. Given its origins, one might think that the Men's Building has a lot of customers, but in reality, this is not the case.
"The Men's Building has a wider selection of products, so we don't have many customers there. In fact, many customers don't have time to go to the Men's Building or don't even know about it. We incorporate know-how, but the rules of thumb of the Men's Building don't apply as they are. Of the 20 stylists, only a few are originally from the Men's Building. How can we create a unique style based on the Men's Building? I think that is the challenge for the future."

The Isetan Haneda Store has had many unexpected developments in the past eight months. Next time, let's take a look at this unique store from the perspective of brands and best-selling products.