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Yaohan (Japanese: 八百半; Chinese: 八佰伴) was a Japanese retail group. The company was founded in 1928 with initially a single shop which expanded into a major supermarket chain after the Second World War with most retail outlets located in Shizuoka prefecture, south of Tokyo. It was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange.
During the 1990s, the Yaohan group expanded dramatically outside of Japan, especially into into the People's Republic of China. At its peak, it had 450 outlets in 16 countries, including 9 in Hong Kong where Yaohan moved its headquarters.
Through a combination of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the stagnation of the Japanese retail market, the group declared bankruptcy with 161 billion yen of debts. It was the biggest postwar failure in Japan's retail sector at the time. The super-market chain asked for protection from creditors under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law on September 18, 1997. Many outlets were closed.
In March 2000 Yaohan was bought by ÆON Group and changed its name to Maxvalu Tokai.
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