Lots of "shoppers", little shopping

I visited an outlet this year for the winter sales. I am not a shopper by nature, so its a long time since I have been to an outlet for sale shopping. In truth, I wasn't there for me, but for my youngest daughter who is a shopper by nature! When I first came to Japan I went more often because there used to a great atmosphere thanks to "fukubukuro" new year lucky bags.

What struck me most about a New Year visit to an outlet this year (2026), during the prime winter sales season, is how few people actually had shopping bags. The outlet was really busy, with lots of potential "shoppers", but by my estimation, only one in about forty people actually had a shopping bag. There were loads of people walking around empty handed and only a small few with shopping bags.

I speculate that inflation, high costs and lack of disposable income, are the main reasons behind the reduced shopping power. But I also suspect that the change in the fukubukuro system may also play a part. Nowadays, many of them go on sale before New Year and / or they can be booked online, and I think its taken that excitement out of New Year shopping. Furthermore, people are more aware and conscious of sustainability than ever before. 

Even zooming into the photo in this post, which I took at the outlet this weekend, I can only find one person with a shopping bag! I got the impression, that most people were there to eat in the restaurants and food court than to actually shop. I could be wrong though, what do you think?