Area served 12 stores in US Subsidiaries 98cent Plus Markets Number of employees 670 | Owner Don Quijote Founded 1965 Parent organization Nagasakiya | |
Type Department store, grocer, former subsidiary of Marukai Corporation Industry Department stores, market Products Imported Japanese goods Headquarters Gardena, California, United States | ||
Marukai Corporation U.S.A. is an American offshoot chain of retail markets that imports and sells Japanese goods in American cities started by the Osaka, Japan-based Marukai Corporation, Incorporated. Unlike other Japanese supermarkets, which may carry non-Japanese products based on local diversity, Marukai has Hawaiian products as a core focus in addition to Japanese, not only in Hawaii, but all its stores. Its headquarters are in Gardena, California, in Greater Los Angeles.
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History
The company was founded in 1965 by Richard and Hidejiro Matsu, sons of the founder of parent company Marukai Trading. In 1975, the company established Marukai Los Angeles. By 1980, the company changed to its current name and opened Marukai Wholesale Mart in Gardena, California. The company began to emphasize membership-based retail shopping. In 1999, the company opened its first 98cent Plus Store carrying Daiso products, before Daiso had its own stores in US. The company has since expanded to 12 locations in California with over 400 employees in California. These stores sell Japanese food and household items.
In 2013, Don Quijote purchased 100 percent stocks of Marukai.
Controversy
On March 9, 2006, Marukai agreed to pay a $52,000 fine to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for selling 11 unregistered Japanese pesticide products In 2011, the company was fined $222,030 for selling and distributing unregistered pesticides and mislabeled pesticide devices, violations that were found in 2008.