(Yicai) March 26 -- Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is shuttering its flagship department store in Shanghai’s Westgate Mall on Nanjing Road, one of the world’s busiest shopping streets, after 27 years of operations as it becomes the latest department store to fall victim to a sweeping change in China’s shopping habits, the Japanese department store operator said yesterday.

The Westgate Isetan Department Store will close on June 30 when its lease expires, a company insider told Yicai. The Tokyo-based firm decided last year not to renew the lease, he added.

Isetan, which used to be one of the most fashionable shops on Chinese cities’ highstreets, will now only be left with one outlet on the mainland, the Renhan Isetan in Tianjin.

New retail formats, such as shopping malls, pop-up stalls and e-commerce, have replaced the popular department store, leading to a wave of closures. Isetan shut its first store in the Chinese mainland, the Huating Isetan on Shanghai’s Huaihai Road, back in 2008 and many others subsequently. Another store in downtown Tianjin will shut on April 14.

An older generation will remember the Westgate Isetan which was one of the most popular shopping destinations, along with Plaza 66 and Citic Square, on Nanjing Road. But they have proved no match for a new form of shopping mall that offers a more diversified and abundant array of goods, not to mention online retail, that have proved more popular with younger people.

Around 21 department stores were shuttered in China last year, according to e-retailer Linkshop’s research center. This includes city landmarks run by major department store chains such as Taiwan’s Pacific Sogo, Japan’s Aeon, Malaysia’s Parkson and Hong Kong’s New World Department Store.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor