I read a while back that Walmart owns a part of one of Japan's retail chains and is trying to build a bigger presence over here. This made me curious about who exactly owns what in the Japanese retail world, so today I did a little research and here's what I figured out:


Aeon
owns/operates: MaxValue, Jusco, Ministop, Talbots, Sports Athority, Laura Ashley, MYCAL, Saty, Sakurano and a ton of other stores

After a series of recent mergers Aeon has become Japan's biggest retailer, but still doesn't compare to Walmart, Carrefour or a number of other large transnational mega conglomerate retain chains.


Ito-Yokado
owns/operates: Denny's, 7-Eleven, York-Benimaru

Japan's second biggest retailer just behind Aeon, Ito-Yokado not only owns 7-Eleven in Japan, but also owns 7-Eleven in North America too. For some dumb reason you can't buy a Slurpee at Japanese 7-Elevens.


UNY
owns/operates: Circle K, Sunkus, Universe


Family Mart

The #3 convenience store chain in Japan behind 7/11 and Lawson.
In Aomori though you can barely find one, as Lawson and Circle K/Sunkus seem to dominate. I have no idea why there are no 7-Eleven's in Aomori, not that it matters since all convenience stores in Japan are exactly the same inside.


Daei

As far as I can tell, now only owns Daei department stores and the Daei Hawks baseball team. (Likely to soon be owned by Walmart)


Lawson
(Spun off from Daei in 2000. Partly owned by Mitsubishi)


Seiyu

owns/operates: Sunny, SSV, Livin
Doesn't have much of a presence in Aomori as far as I can tell.

(Already owned 38% by Walmart, which will likely rise to 67% by 2007)


Millennium Retailing
owns/operates: Seibu, Sogo

Don't know much about this company, other than it's a pretty big department store chain and they own the Seibu Lions baseball team.


Other big chains in Japan include Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya, and Marui, but are mostly found just in big cities like Tokyo or Osaka.


One thing you'll notice in Japan compared to most other countries is a surprising lack of big name western chain stores. Sure many of the big names like McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Subway, Pizza Hut are here, but not in anywhere near the same numbers you would find in most other countries. Back home a town the size of Noheji would certainly have a McDonald's, and in the U.S. it would probably have 3 or 4. In some cases, like with Denny's or 7-Eleven, they only borrow the name and not much else. French owned mega chain Carrefour (Second only worldwide to Walmart) tried to sink it's teeth into Japan, but so far has failed to get anywhere. They own only 8 stores here and might be selling those to Walmart pretty soon. If Walmart were ever to merge with Carrefour they would no doubt have enough money and power to take over the world.


Japan's "Large Scale Retail Store Law" was designed to protect small businesses and placed heavy restrictions on large retail outlets. Because of the economic downturn, this law was eliminated and now giant box stores have the freedom to do just about anything they want. Will Walmart's moving into Japan crush retailing with low wages, long work hours, poor benefits, an efficient supply chain and anti-compeditive business practices? I doubt it, just because Japanese retailers already have mastered all those things decades ago. This might be the first time Walmart actually has to compete for business. Then again, one should never underestimate the power of the Walmart.


Finally, if you're not already sick of all this business mumbo jumbo, here's a PDF all about future of global retailing. It's worth looking at if for no other reason than for the picture of a guy holding a gun to the head of a dog at the very end.