Masatoshi Ito, honorary chairman of the major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado, who laid the foundation for Seven & i Holdings, which owns general supermarkets and convenience stores, passed away on March 10.

he was 98 years old.

In 1958, Mr. Ito established Yokado, the predecessor of Ito-Yokado, a clothing store based on his family's clothing store, in Adachi-ku, Tokyo, and assumed the position of president.



After that, referring to American supermarkets, we expanded our product lineup to food and daily necessities, embarked on a general supermarket business, and changed the company name to Ito-Yokado.



In addition, we also embarked on a wide range of business development, such as family restaurant "Denny's" and convenience store "Seven-Eleven", and laid the foundation for Ito-Yokado to become "Seven & i Holdings", one of the leading distribution groups in Japan. .



In 1992, Mr. Ito resigned as president after taking responsibility for an employee's profit-giving incident to a corporate racketeer.



In 2005, he became the honorary chairman of Seven & i Holdings and retired from management.



According to the company, Mr. Ito passed away on March 10 due to old age.



he was 98 years old.