FamilyMart Uny to make discount operator Don Quijote its affiliate

Kyodo -- Oct 12

Major Japanese retailer FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. said Thursday it will make discount store operator Don Quijote Holdings Co. its affiliate in a deeper capital tie-up amid intensifying competition in the shrinking domestic retail market.

FamilyMart Uny will also sell its entire stake in struggling supermarket unit Uny Co. to the discount store operator, which currently owns 40 percent of shares under a capital alliance formed last year, aiming to focus on its convenience store operations, the second-largest in size in Japan.

FamilyMart Uny hopes to further capitalize on the know-how of Don Quijote whose flashy shops are popular with young people and foreign tourists, in the face of fierce competition with the rise of online retailers, discount stores and drugstores.