E-Mart Inc., South Korea's largest discount hypermarket chain by sales, said Friday 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.
E-Mart 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 U.S. 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 U.S., 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. (Yonhap)