OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Shoppers out for seasonal staples, discount merchandise and "lucky" New Year bags whose contents remain unknown prior to purchase flocked to the first such sale of this year on Thursday at a major department store in western Japan.

More than 2,000 people lined up in front of a Kintetsu department store in Osaka, a core city in Japan's second-largest business district, with the doors opening at 9:10 a.m., 20 minutes earlier than scheduled.

A lion dance was performed to liven up the festive mood in the store located in the 60-story Abeno Harukas complex in the city's Abeno Ward.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Kintetsu also offered raffle tickets for rare experiences such as a helicopter flight over the venue of the World Expo, to be held in the city later this year.

Ryunosuke Honda, a 25-year-old graduate student who won the prize, said, "I'm worried my luck for this year has already run out, but I look forward to the flight with my father."

Other major department stores in Osaka, such as Hanshin, Hankyu and Daimaru, will launch similar New Year sales on Friday.