Yaohan

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Yaohan (Japanese: ヤオハン or 八百半; Chinese: 八佰伴) was a Japanese retail group. The company was founded in 1930 by Kazuo Wada (和田良平). Initially a single shop, it later expanded into a major supermarket chain after the Second World War with most retail outlets located in Shizuoka prefecture, south of Tokyo. It was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange. Ironically, it was not well known in Japan outside of Shizuoka but well known overseas, and by the time it opened its first store in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is was on the decline from debts from overexpansion.

During the 1990s, the Yaohan group expanded dramatically outside Japan, especially into the People's Republic of China, California, and Hawaii. At its peak, it had 450 outlets in 16 countries, including 9 in Hong Kong, as well as some in Los Angeles, Honolulu, London, and San Jose, California. Later, Yaohan as it became unprofitable, it split into two companies, one in Japan and with overseas part headquartered in Hong Kong. The group was traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as Yaohan International Company Limited until August 11, 1998. (The current Yaohan International Company Limited in Hong Kong is locally owned and has no connection with the Wada family.)

Through a combination of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the stagnation of the Japanese retail market, the group declared bankruptcy with 161 billion yen of debts. It was the biggest postwar failure in Japan's retail sector at the time. The super-market chain asked for protection from creditors under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law on September 18, 1997. Many outlets were closed.

In March 2000 Yaohan in Japan was bought by ÆON Group and changed its name to Maxvalu Tokai. Other stores in the USA were bought by Mitsuwa, Maruwa and Marukai, the latter two based in Los Angeles.

A department store in Macao is operated under the trading name New Yaohan (新八佰伴).

[edit] See also

• Economy of Japan

[edit] References