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Japan // End User
Japanese Retail Giant Aeon Group Continues Commitment to NatRefs Its new retail complex in Okayama has installed CO 2 equipment from new vendors, bringing total natural refrigerant installations to more than 600 stores. ― By Tomoro Sato, Rena Okabe and Devin Yoshimoto
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eon Group, the Chiba, Japanbased retail conglomerate with 21,996 stores in Japan, China and Southeast Asia, has made a commitment to natural refrigerants since launching its Aeon Natural Refrigerant declaration in 2011. The policy states that Aeon Group will "introduce facilities with natural refrigerants at all new stores while converting to natural refrigerants at existing stores over time." As of September 2019, the company has installed natural refrigerant (mostly CO 2) equipment at 635 stores, including 31 general merchandise stores, 298 supermarkets, 285 drug stores and 21 convenience stores. One of its biggest recent efforts took place in July 2019, when its division Aeon Retail opened a renovated large-scale commercial retail complex in Okayama City in southern Japan. The retail facility, Aeon Style Okayama Aoe, which has a sales floor area of approximately 82,623ft² (7,676m²), has 10 directly managed stores and 10 tenants — mainly supermarkets offering everyday goods ranging from groceries and pharmaceuticals to health and beauty products. The community-based complex targets the community's single and dual-income residents in their 30s and 40s.
It is here where Aeon Retail installed CO 2 refrigerated display cases, supplied by Fukushima Galilei (formerly Fukushima Industries Group). Out of 141 refrigerated display-cases, about 100 employ CO 2 , mainly for frozen foods, ice, meat, fish, and produce. Aeon Retail mainly uses open-type display cases, and for frozen food and ice cream employs reach-in display cases or floor-mounted flat-type display cases with sliding doors, said Akihito Narita, Store Planning Group Manager for the Development Division of the Construction Department for Aeon Retail. Aeon Style Okayama Aoe, a retail complex in Okayama, Japan
Accelerate Magazine // January 2020