, based in
Kobe, Hyōgo, is one of the largest
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
chains in Japan. In 1957,
Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
near
Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by
Marubeni Corporation and
ÆON Co., Ltd., another Japanese supermarket chain. Daiei Inc. runs more than 3,000 stores under the Daiei name as well as through its subsidiaries.
In addition to
groceries
A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...
, Daiei is also a department store, selling electronics, home furnishings, and clothes. In terms of net sales, Daiei was formerly the largest retailer in Japan.
History
The retail chain expanded rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s. Also, stronger sales from competitors such as
Ito-Yokado, ÆON, and other regional supermarket chains have hurt Daiei's sales record in recent years.
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 baseball team, the
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, which it purchased from
Nankai Railway in 1988 to
SoftBank
is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...
, on January 27, 2005 and the company's
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
stores in 2006 to
Don Quijote Co., Ltd. Through the process of
debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...
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.
Daiei's current president is Yasuo Nishitoge.
Private brand
Daiei carries multiple
private label brands, and the biggest one they carry is Topvalu (トップバリュ) which started in 2007. Topvalu products are sold by
ÆON Co., Ltd. and Daiei.
Gallery
File:Daiei store.jpg, A Daiei store
File:TOPVALU logo.svg, Topvalu logo
File:Armond chocolate of TOPVALU.JPG, Topvalu almond chocolate snack
See also
*
Zombie company
References
External links
Daiei Official site
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
* Wiki collection of bibliographic works on Daiei
{{Authority control
Retail companies established in 1957
Department stores of Japan
Japanese supermarkets
Supermarkets of Japan
Japanese brands
Companies based in Kobe
Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
1957 establishments in Japan