McD to close 110 branches in Japan
From Yahoo!News.co.jp: On November 1, McDonald’s Holdings Company Japan,revealed that it will close 110 stores within the next year. Profits are rapidly declining through things such as a 2.2% decrease in sales by the end of September in stores that had seen positive growth for eight years prior to the last period (December 2011), and the company is planning to take measures to relieve the problem. Since the 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami, McDonald’s has faced severe competition from retail chains that are providing better ready-meal alternatives to home-cooked food, as well as money-saving home-cookers. Eiko Harada, CEO of McDonald’s Japan stated with a severe expression on his face that, ‘The forecast was wildly inaccurate’. Stores with bad profits, such as small stores that cannot offer all the menu items, will be closed. The closing cost of about ¥1.4 billion will be included in this term’s balance sheet. The company had already closed 433 stores in 2010 to strengthen...