Daiei

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For other uses, see Daiei (disambiguation).

The Daiei, Inc.

Type	Public KK (TYO: 8263, NASDAQ: DAIEY)
Founded	Osaka, Japan
Founder	Isao Nakauchi
Headquarters	Kobe, Japan
Key people	Fumiko Hayashi, CEO
Industry	Retail
Products	Hypermarkets and supermarkets
Revenue	▲¥1,431.5 billion JPY (2005)
Employees	full-time; 6979
Subsidiaries	OMC Card
Website	www.daiei.co.jp

A Daiei store

The Daiei logo seen from the 1975 until 2005.

The Daiei, Inc. (株式会社ダイエー, Kabushiki-kaisha Daiē^?), based in Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line.^{[citation needed]} Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Marubeni Corporation and ÆON Co., Ltd., another Japanese supermarket chain.

Daiei Inc. currently runs more than 3,000 stores under the Daiei name as well as through its subsidiaries.^[1]

In addition to groceries, Daiei is also a department store, selling electronics, home furnishings, and clothes. In terms of net sales, Daiei used to be the largest retailer in Japan. However, total sales declined by nearly a quarter in the five years leading up to 2003, which can be attributed to Japan's recession.^{[citation needed]}

The retail chain expanded rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been suggested that this is the cause of the company's large debt and some critics have noted that the expansion occurred in a rather haphazard manner.^[who?] Also, stronger sales from competitors such as Ito-Yokado, ÆON, and other regional supermarket chains have hurt Daiei's sales record in recent years.^{[citation needed]}

As a part of the series of bootstrap restructuring efforts to avoid filing for IRCJ (Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan) support, the company sold its famous and popular baseball team, the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, on January 27, 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Through the process of debt restructuring and support given by financial institutions in coordination with IRCJ, the company has been acquired by IRCJ, Marubeni Corporation (a trading company) and Advantage Partners (a private equity house) in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Daiei's current President and CEO is Toru Nishimi, formerly an operating officer of Marubeni Corporation.