President Chain Store Corp (
The two companies set up the Muji (Taiwan) Co (
President Chain and its parent company, Uni-President Enterprise Group (
Mitsubishi is also a minority stake shareholder of Ryohin Kei-kaku, controlling 4 percent of the retailer's shares.
Muji Taiwan is expected to compete head-to-head with home-furnishings seller Working House (
But Hsu Chung-jen said the alliance with Ryohin Keikaku will bring a number of advantages to President Chain as it branches out into a new area of business.
The Muji venture could cause a major shift in the so-called "lifestyle-concept shop" market, Hsu said, comparing the effect with the introduction of US-based Starbucks to Taiwan five years ago.
President Chain now oversees 30 Starbucks shops in Shanghai and 109 in Taiwan.
But Hsu has even higher expectations for the new venture.
"It took us at least four years to start turning profits at Starbucks Taiwan, but we expect it won't take longer than three years for Muji to make money in the local market," he said.
Muji, a 23-year old retailer specializing in home furnishings, kitchenware and stationary with "simple, natural and quality" designs, has average annual sales of ?115 billion (NT$33.85 billion). Muji owns 121 stores throughout Japan.
Apart from its expansion to Taiwan, Muji is also opening shops in the UK, Ireland, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea. The company opened its first overseas store in the UK about 10 years ago.
The venture plans to set up its first store in Taipei sometime in the first half of next year, general manager of Muji Taiwan Tony Tsai (
One market watcher applauded the alliance, saying President Chain is on the right track by focusing on retailing.
"The core value of President Chain is its experience and know-how in running retail businesses, and this is what interests investors about the company," said Raymond Yang (
"President Chain has strong know-how and can boost efficiency so long as all units under the umbrella share information and operating costs," Yang added.
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