Amid much talk of delaying the department store's sale, which was scheduled to start on the 17th, the latest of any department store, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings President Hiroshi Onishi was on hand to assist customers in the women's clothing section of the Isetan Shinjuku store.

Shoppers were surprised to see the president, who appeared on the Re-Style floor on the third floor at the store's opening, and the sight of him moving around the floor himself motivated the sales staff.
President Onishi was on hand to assist customers from opening until 6:00 PM. "It's been about eight years since I was general manager of men's clothing that I've been on the front lines almost the entire day. When I was manager of the Tachikawa store, I only served customers on the women's clothing floor for three hours at most," said President Onishi, so a full day is unusual. This was, of course, his first time at the Shinjuku store.

"Being able to interact directly with customers is both fun and educational," he said. They seemed to be having a lot of fun as they energetically ran around checking stock of sizes, etc. "The president himself seemed to be enjoying himself, and our customers seemed pleased as well. Perhaps staff morale has been boosted, as sales exceeded our expectations," said Furuya Maya, head of the women's sales department at the store.