ANA's trading arm agrees to buy lifestyle retailer AKOMEYA TOKYO from Sazaby League
All Nippon Airways' trading arm is buying AKOMEYA TOKYO, the rice-and-homeware chain built by Sazaby League — 38 stores and two food halls changing hands between two Japanese retail groups, with the buyer framing the deal around folding in its own airport-retail know-how.
All Nippon Airways' trading arm has agreed to buy AKOMEYA TOKYO, the lifestyle-retail chain built by Sazaby League, in a deal that hands one of Tokyo's best-known rice-and-homeware store formats to a new owner.
All Nippon Airways Trading (ANA Shoji) signed a stock transfer agreement on September 14 to acquire all shares of AKOMEYA TOKYO from Sazaby League, the companies said. The deal value was not disclosed. Closing is expected by October 30, subject to clearance from Japan's Fair Trade Commission.
AKOMEYA TOKYO operates 38 stores plus two AKOMEYA Shokudo food halls and an online store as of September 15, according to the companies. Sazaby League, which built the brand, also runs Afternoon Tea and Ron Herman's Japan business.
ANA Shoji's president, Junichiro Miyagawa, described the acquisition as welcoming AKOMEYA TOKYO as a new member of the group, framing the tie-up around combining the trading company's airport-retail and store-development experience with AKOMEYA's own merchandising, according to the release.
An airport landlord takes on a floor format
For ANA Shoji, the appeal is pairing a company used to running concessions inside terminals with a format that already sits inside malls, station buildings and standalone stores nationwide. For AKOMEYA, the open question is what changes under an airline-linked owner: airport and inbound-facing locations are the obvious first place to watch for where the brand turns up next.