As reported earlier by Sprawl-Busters, Wal-Mart has increased its ownership in the Japanese supermarket retailer Seiyu to 34%, Wal-Mart already owns 6.1% of the company, which has 400 stores in Japan. Chain Store Age reports that Wal-Mart is paying $423.2 million to acquire 192.8 million Seiyu shares. Wal-Mart bought into the company less than a year ago. Wal-Mart says it will make some changes to the company gradually over a five year period. One of the list of changes will be to remodel a number of Seiyu’s 400 stores, and improve its supply-chain management and information-technology systems. Wal-Mart also has an option to buy more of Seiyu , increasing its control to 50.1% by the end of 2005 and then up to 66.7% by the end of 2007. Expect to see more than remodeled stores as Wal-Mart begins to open its own stores in Japan.
Not by coincidence, a Japanese publisher has published this month a Japanese-language version of “Slam Dunking Wal-Mart: How You Can Stop Superstore Sprawl in Your Hometown.” Japanese merchants, environmentalists, anti-sprawl groups, and consumers, better begin reading quickly. The Wal-Mart shadow is growing larger over the Rising Sun. For more background in the Wal-Mart invasion of Japan, search this database by “Japan”.
