Editing Yaohan (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{short description|Japanese retail group}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Yaohan Co., LTD.
|native_name = 株式会社ヤオハン
| romanized_name = Kabushiki gaisha Yaohan
| logo = Yaohan logo.svg
| type = 
| industry = Retail
| fate = Bankrupt<ref name=history/><br>Most assets acquired by [[AEON (company)|ÆON]]<br>Japanese stores became [[MaxValu]]; some overseas stores became [[JUSCO]] (now ÆON)
| predecessor = <!-- or: | predecessors = -->
| founded = 1930 in Japan<ref name=history/><br>1948 (incorporated)
| founder = Ryohei and Katsu Wada
| defunct = 1997<ref name=infopedia/>
| area_served = Worldwide
| hq_location_country = 
| key_people = [[Kazuo Wada]]
| products = 
| owner = <!-- or: | owners = -->
| successor = [[MaxValu]] (in Japan)
| num_employees = 
| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->
}}

{{nihongo|'''Yaohan Co., Ltd.'''|株式会社ヤオハン|[[Kabushiki gaisha]] Yaohan}} or {{nihongo|'''Yaohan'''|ヤオハン||or 八百半}}; ({{zh|c=八佰伴}}) was a Japanese retail group, founded in 1930 by {{nihongo|Ryohei Wada|和田 良平|Wada Ryōhei}} and his wife {{nihongo|{{ill|Katsu Wada|ja|和田カツ}}|和田 カツ|Wada Katsu}}.<ref name=history>{{cite web|url=http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/9078.html|title=Japan supermarket giant Yaohan company went bankrupt|date=8 July 2019|website=Today in History China|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829100852/http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/9078.html|archive-date=29 August 2019}}</ref> Initially a single shop selling vegetables,<ref name="protection">{{cite news |title=Bankruptcy protection for Yaohan Japan |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/biztimes19970919-1.2.4?qt=yaohan&q=yaohan |work=Business Times (Singapore) |date=September 19, 1997}}</ref> it was expanded by their son [[Kazuo Wada]] into a major supermarket chain with most retail outlets located in [[Shizuoka prefecture]], south of Tokyo. It was incorporated in 1948 and listed on [[Tokyo Stock Exchange]]. The store was far more established and notable outside Japan, due to restrictive laws in Japan that made it difficult to set up new businesses, such that by the time it opened its first store in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the company was already in a state of decline due to accumulated debts from over-expansion.