HIGASHIOSAKA, Osaka -- Major discount supermarket chain OK, based in the greater Tokyo area, opened its first store in west Japan's Kansai region on Nov. 26, achieving a long-held vision once set back by legal hurdles.

OK Corp., headquartered in Yokohama, attempted to acquire Kansai Super Market Ltd., based in the western Japan city of Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, three years ago, but failed after a legal battle that went to the Supreme Court. This is therefore a long-awaited foray into the Kansai region for the company.

OK's first Kansai store opened in a residential area of the Osaka Prefecture city of Higashiosaka, a few minutes' walk from JR Takaida-Chuo Station. It is a fiercely competitive area that has other supermarkets, such as Life and Mandai, well accepted by the local community. OK has a 2,473-square-meter large sales floor on the basement level of a five-story building, with a large parking lot on the second through fourth floors. Major dollar store Daiso occupies the first floor. Customers lined up before the OK store's opening.

Until now, OK has operated 156 stores in the densely populated capital region. The stores do not offer special sales of specific products for limited periods of time. Instead, they have gained customers under the banner of high quality at everyday low prices. The operator was eyeing the Kansai region as a new target for growth.

President Ryotaro Ninomiya told reporters eagerly, "We are grateful for the interest from many customers. Competition is tough, but we will battle in the Kansai region as a high-quality, everyday low-priced OK (location)."

A 45-year-old company worker from the city of Osaka's Tsurumi Ward bought a pizza for her family and commented, "I feel that the prices are cheap overall. I would like to come back when the number of customers has decreased a bit and things have settled down."

In September 2021, OK revealed plans to acquire Kansai Super Market, which had announced a business merger with Osaka-based H2O Retailing Corp., the operator of Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, and engaged in a fierce battle with H2O Retailing. At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in October of the same year, Kansai Super Market submitted a proposal for the merger with H2O Retailing that was agreed to by 66.68% of the shareholders present -- slightly more than the two-thirds majority required for approval. Therefore, the merger was expected to take place.

However, it turned out that some shareholders who had sent in voting forms in favor of the integration plan had actually cast blank votes at the meeting. OK objected to the result, and the matter became a legal battle.

Although the Kobe District Court ordered an injunction against the merger, the Osaka High Court overturned this, recognizing the validity of the integration procedure. The Supreme Court upheld the high court's decision, and the dispute was finally settled in December 2021.

(Japanese original by Yasuhiro Miyazaki, Osaka Business News Department)