Yi Group



Yi Group (Grupo Yi)
Type	Private
Industry	retailing
Founded	1878
Founder	Erasmo Yi (이상훈)
Headquarters	Villa Constitución, DF, Ardisphere
Area Served	Worldwide
Key People	Ícaro Yi (이형욱), CEO
Products	high-end and discount house brands
Service(s)	department stores
	discount stores
	convenience stores
	marketing
	catering
Total Equity	unpublished

Yi Group (formally Grupo Yi de Ventas al Por Menor, SA) is a privately held Ardispherian retailing conglomerate that includes stores at all market sectors, selling to a substantial portion of the domestic market, as well extensive international operations. The fifth generation of the Yi Family, which is collectively the second richest family in the Ardisphere, controls the company completely, and the company has no shares listed on any market.

The corporate headquarters is anchored in downtown Villa Constitución, in the company owned Torre Yi (map) over their store just two blocks south of the Central train station. Torre Yi is the third-tallest building in the city's skyline and a major landmark as well.

History

Erasmo Yi founded his first "Alamacén" (department store) in Faro, DS, in 1865, using capital acquired from land speculation in rural Departamento del Centro. For over 100 years, the store was a highly reputed chain but without any other lines of business. Then in the 1970's, the owners began an ambitious expansion focused mainly on buying out competitors and operators in other retail sectors.

The holding company was created by the Yi Family in 1987 at the time that they acquired Calíope Martí's Martímart chain, to separate the brand identity of their flagship chain, Almacenes Yi, from other downmarket retail brands.

Subsidiaries

• Almacenes Yi - high-end department stores
• Martímart - deep discount superstores and hypermarkets
• etc.

See Also

• Yi Family