Emart Inc. () is the largest retailer in South Korea. There were 160 stores across the country as of December 2016. It was founded on 12 November 1993 by

Shinsegae Shinsegae (, ) is a South Korean department store franchise, along with several other businesses, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The firm is an affiliate of Shinsegae Group, South Korea's leading retail chaebol, and one of the big three de ...

as the first discount retailer in South Korea. Emart is Korea's oldest and largest discount store chain, with a total sales volume exceeding US$9.4 billion in 2009. With new store openings and the acquisition of

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Korea in 2006, Emart enjoys its retail leadership in the discount store market. Emart offers everything from food to clothes to diapers and provides a huge variety of merchandise. Emart has a website where products can be bought or viewed online. Emart is the first Korean retailer to open a retail store in China to become one of the top leading global retailers. In January 2011, there were 27 stores in China. By February 2014, China's store count shrunk to 13 stores.

History

Emart opened its first store in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul on November 12, 1993, and opened its first Emart Ilsan branch (No. 2) in Ilsan New Town on September 8, 1994. It was the first large retail store in South Korea. It was constructed by Kumho Engineering & Construction at the time, and when the friction between Kumho Engineering & Construction and Emart broke out, Kumho Emart became the main body of lease. On July 7, 1995, the third Ansan branch (closed in December 2012) opened and, on December 1, 1995, the fourth Bupyeong branch (closed on June 28, 2018). On November 22, 1996, the fifth store opened in Jeju; on November 30, 1996, the sixth store opened in Bundang. On February 1, 1997, it became the first Korean retailer to enter China, opening its seventh Emart store in China and the first Emart store in Shanghai. On April 29, 1997, the company opened its eighth Namwon branch, its ninth Anyang branch on August 14, 1997, and its tenth Seobusan branch on August 29, 1997. On October 1, 2004, Emart opened an Internet shopping mall. In May 2006, Walmart acquired Walmart Korea, converting 16 Walmart stores into Emart stores. At this time, Walmart Korea was accepted and changed to Shinsegae Mart, and in 2008 it was merged entirely with Emart. Since 2003, Emart has implemented a "lowest compensation system" that gives gift certificates worth 5,000 won if they are more expensive than other discount stores in the commercial area (within a radius of 5 kilometers) but abolished them on August 16, 2007, saying that some advertisements are false hype. As of September 2009, Emart has 127 and 4 distribution centers in South Korea, with 22 stores in the People's Republic of China. Emart stores in China also sell Korean products. On May 13, 2011, Kim's Club Mart was acquired. It opened in

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...

City on 28 December 2015. It opened its second store in Sala, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City on November 03rd, 2022 On 8 April 2016, the "Mart" experience center was opened in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

, Kizania, and on 28 July 2016, it was opened in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

. It announced its withdrawal from China on 31 May 2017. American company Good Food Holdings, Inc., parent of Bristol Farms, was acquired in 2018 by Emart for $275 million. In December 2019, owner Endeavour Capital announced that it would be selling the grocery chain

New Seasons Market New Seasons Market is a chain of privately owned grocery stores operating in the Portland, Oregon metro area, southwestern Washington, and northern California. Some of the products offered are organic and produced locally in the Pacific Northw ...

to E-mart, specifically to its subsidiary, Good Food Holdings, in a sale transaction that was finalized in early 2020. On May 16, 2018, the Gyeongsan branch and Bupyeong branch closed due to poor performance and overlapping commercial districts with the Gyeyang branch, Shizikolong Skychae will be built after demolition, and the Bupyeong branch will be built in Bupyeong Jewell. In addition, the company closed its Ulsan Hakseong Branch, Goyang Duck Branch, Incheon Branch, Gwangju Sangmu Branch, and Seobusan Branch and sold all of Costco Korea's shares to Costco's Washington headquarters. In 2021, Emart24 convenience stores expanded to Malaysia to directly compete with CU, which Emart24's first Malaysian store launched a little later in the same year. In January 2022, Emart acquired a majority stake (80.01%) in the former eBay Korea, which it renamed " Gmarket Global".

EBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

retained a 19.99% stake in the company. In December 2022, Emart24 launched in Singapore with the launch of the first two outlets on Christmas Holidays. During the launching event at Jurong Point outlet, chief executive Andy Choi has planned to launch 300 stores within the next five years.

Controversies

Food Safety * In September 2007, the Korea Food and Drug Administration announced that chlorphenapir, a pesticide component, was detected above the standard in Emart's first water powder green tea sold under its own brand. * On November 28, 2008, the Agricultural Quality Management Agency cracked down on Emart's Namyangju branch marking the country of origin as U.S. on the top of the meat package, but double marking as Australian was found on the barcode below.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies listed on the Korea Exchange Discount stores Retail companies established in 2011 Retail companies of South Korea Shinsegae Group Supermarkets of South Korea