Tokyo  - Takashimaya Co, one of Japan's leading department-store operators, plans to open an outlet in Shanghai in 2012, hoping to boost its sales by entering the fast-growing Chinese market, the firm said Tuesday.

The company is to occupy eight floors, or 40,000 square metres, in a store in an upscale residential district of Gubei New Area in Shanghai. The total investment is to be 4 billion yen (42.73 million dollars), Takashimaya said.

"There will be a certain limit to pursuing a growth strategy inside Japan," Hideshi Mizuno, Takashimaya's managing director, said at a press conference in Tokyo.

Takashimaya, which sees the China outlet as a long-term business strategy, would become the second Japanese department-store operator after Isetan Co to open an outlet in China.

The firm already has branches in Singapore, Taipei, New York and Paris. (dpa)