Lawson (store)

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Lawson Terauchicho 1-chome shop in Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan

Lawson (TYO: 2651 ) is a konbini, or convenience store, franchise chain in Japan. The name "Lawson" originates in Ohio, USA circa 1939. J.J. Lawson started up a milk business, "Lawson's Milk," and began opening a chain of stores, mainly in Ohio, to sell his milk. Lawson was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1959 but the stores stayed open for a while. Lawson Convenience Stores were common across northeastern Ohio through the 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1974, Consolidated signed a formal agreement with Daiei to open the first Lawson stores in Japan. On 1975 April 15, Daiei Lawson Co., Ltd. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiei, Inc.. The first store opened in Sakurazuka, Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture in June 1975.

In September 1979 the official name was changed to Lawson Japan, Inc. Originally a joint venture between Japanese consumer retailing giant Daiei and U.S.-based Lawson Co., Lawson was a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiei until 2001, when Mitsubishi Corporation became the main shareholder as Daiei's slide began.

Lawson is one of the top convenience store chains in Japan, second only to convenience franchise giant 7-Eleven. All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods such as magazines, manga, soft drinks, contraceptives, onigiri, and bento are available.

To date, Lawson operates in all 47 prefectures of Japan as well as in Shanghai, China.