Japan FTC Inspects Supermarket Lopia over Unfair Trade

Jiji Press

16:27 JST, June 16, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has conducted on-site inspections of the headquarters of supermarket operator Lopia Co. and related locations on suspicion of unfair trade with suppliers, informed sources said Monday.

According to the sources, Lopia requested suppliers to dispatch workers to stores and had them perform such tasks as product displays, sales support and product restocking without compensation on the occasions of store openings and refurbishment from at latest 2022.

Suppliers are believed to have suffered disadvantages exceeding the benefits from opportunities to promote their own products, because they often had to display other companies’ products.

Given their relations with Lopia, suppliers had little choice but to meet the company’s request. Lopia therefore may have abused its dominant position, banned under the antimonopoly law.

Lopia, based in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, has opened some 50 stores across the country since September 2022 and plans to open more. The rapid growth boosted workload, which may have been passed on to suppliers.

According to its website and other information, Lopia operates 118 stores in 19 prefectures and seven stores in Taiwan. Its overall sales reached about ¥320 billion in the year that ended in February 2024.