April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] E-mart, Korea’s largest discount hypermarket chain by sales, said on Sept. 28 it will launch the first outlet of its premium grocery store in Los Angeles next year, the latest in a series of moves to expand its presence abroad.

The firm has signed a 10-year contract to lease three floors of a six-story building in downtown LA with a plan to open the 3,104-square-meter grocery shop named PK Market in the second half of next year, it said.

“As we have wrapped up the lease contract, we can now begin a full-fledged preparation for our US business,” E-mart said in a statement.

Chung Yong-jin, vice chairman of Shinsegae Group that operates E-mart, said in March the business group will launch the food store brand in the US, targeting locals with Asian food products.

The company introduced PK Market, a store that sells international ingredients, vegetables, seafood and meat, at its shopping complex Starfield Hanam, just southeast of Seoul, in 2016.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)