Lawson (store)

K. K. Lawson (Japanese株式会社 ローソン, Kabushiki - gaisha Rosón, Eng. Lawson Inc.) is Japan's second largest convenience store operator behind 7 -Eleven.

History

In 1975, the supermarket chain Daiei, the 100 % subsidiary of Daiei Lawson KK (ダイエー ローソン 株式会社, daie Rosón Kabushiki - gaisha ) and opened the first store in Minamisakurazuka, Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture. In the following years, more and more branches were opened. In 1994, Daiei Lawson had more than 5000 stores for the first time. In June 1996, the name was changed to Lawson KK was.

The Lawson is since 2001 a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.

Today the company has 9,625 branches. The majority ( 8,527 ) of the branches operate franchisee. 1,098 stores owned by the company itself.

Presence in Japan

The Lawson is mainly to be found in Japan. The company has branches in all prefectures of Japan. Exceptions are the stores in Shanghai and in China.