In 1939, dairy owner James "J.J." Lawson started a store at his Broad Boulevard dairy plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to sell his milk. The Lawson's Milk Company grew to a chain of stores, primarily in Ohio. Lawson was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1959. Lawson's neighborhood convenience stores were common in Ohio from the 1960s through the mid-1980s, selling milk, bread, eggs, orange juice, and specialty items such as deli counter 'chipped' style ham and sour cream potato chip dips. Consolidated was renamed Sara Lee in 1985. At about the same time, Lawson's stores in the United States were sold to Dairy Mart, a smaller chain of convenience stores located in Enfield, Connecticut. Dairy Mart moved its headquarters to Cuyahoga Falls, renamed the Lawson's stores, and operated the chain as Dairy Mart for the next 17 years. Under Dairy Mart, the chain experienced some controversy. Dairy Mart was sued by the American Family Association, after a Dairy Mart manager in Ohio complained that the company's policy of selling pornography subjected her to sexual and religious harassment. The court case, Stanley v. Lawson Co., was seen as a test of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court ultimately ruled in favour of Lawson. in June 2020. In 2002, a Canadian-based convenience store company, Alimentation Couche-Tard of Laval, Quebec, bought the assets and name of Dairy Mart. Most of the former Dairy Mart stores, which were either originally Lawson's stores, or were located in communities in which Lawson's once had a presence, were converted to the Circle K brand. Due to demand from consumers, it was announced that Lawson's Chip Dip would continue to be sold no matter what the name of the store. A few independently-owned Dairy Mart stores in the Columbus, Ohio area survive as of 2020, independent of Circle K and continuing to use the Dairy Mart name and final logo under license from Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Presence in Japan
In 1974, Consolidated signed a formal agreement with Daiei to open the first Lawson stores in Japan. On April 15, 1975, Daiei Lawson Co., Ltd. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiei, Inc., a retail company which also ran a supermarket chain. The first store opened in Sakurazuka, Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture in June 1975. In September 1979 the official name was changed to Lawson Japan, Inc.. The Mitsubishi Corporation became the main shareholder in 2001. Lawson is one of the top convenience store chains in Japan, third to convenience franchise giants 7-Eleven and FamilyMart. All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods, such as magazines, video games, manga, soft drinks, onigiri, pastry roulette and bento are available. Lawson has occasionally collaborated on tie-ins with various companies, including Koei's PlayStation 3 game Dynasty Warriors 7. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, a Lawson store in author Hirohiko Araki's native Sendai was remodeled to look like the "Owson" store that appears in part 4 of the series. In late 2013, a crossover with All Japan Pro Wrestling saw Triple Crown heavyweight wrestling champion Kohei Suwama appear in ads and even work the till for a photo-op in a Tokyo location. In early 2016, a Lawson-sponsored Power Cube was introduced into the online gameIngress. DDM and Kadokawa's Kantai Collection also tapped Lawson in limited promotional materials, featuring character representations of shipgirls such as Kashima in Lawson crew outfits, whose popularity persisted long after the promo. To date, Lawson operates over 11,384 stores. They are found in all 47 prefectures of Japan, as well as China, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Hawaii. In 2014, the company announced plans to open stores specifically designed for elderly consumers. In September 2014, Lawson announced it would acquire Japanese chain Seijo Ishii Co. for around $503 million from Marunouchi Capital. In October 2016, Lawson announced it was partnering with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. After receiving the appropriate license from the Japanese Financial Services Agency, the move would allow Lawson stores to offer cash withdrawal, deposit and transfer services, over and above the ATM services that are already provided. In February 2017, Lawson became a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp.
Return to the United States
With the establishment of "Lawson USA Hawaii, Inc.", Lawson returned to the U.S. market, with two locations in Honolulu opening on July 7, 2012. One of the stores is in the Sheraton Waikiki, while the other is in the Moana Hotel. Further expansion in both Hawaii and the mainland U.S. is planned.
Environmental commitment
As of May 2012, Lawson had solar equipment at 20 of its stores, but the company announced in June 2012 that it would install solar panels at 2,000 of its 10,000 Japanese stores. It was estimated that each store would generate about 11,000 kWh per year. Just under 2,000 kWh of this would go toward climate control and other in-house uses, which would account for about 1% of each store's power consumption. The rest of the electricity would be sold under Japan's feed-in tariff system that came into operation on July 1, 2012. It was estimated that the company's income from the power generated by the 2,000 stores would come to more than 700 million yen a year. Lawson planned to install solar panels at 1,000 stores in the 2012–2013 financial year, and 1,000 more in the 2013–2014 financial year. It chose solar panels from Solar Frontier, along with the same company's online monitoring system, for the first 1,000 stores.
In other countries
China
Lawson has more than 1,200 stores in China, which are found in and around five major cities: Beijing, Chongqing, Dalian, Shanghai and Wuhan. The Shanghai region is the largest, with more than 800 locations.
Indonesia
In August 2011, Lawson opened its first Indonesian store in Jakarta. In Indonesia, Lawson is a subsidiary of Alfamidi. Recently, Lawson partnered with JKT48 to launch new products.
Thailand
In 2013, Lawson began opening stores in Thailand under the name Lawson 108. The stores are run as a joint venture between Lawson Japan and the Thai consumer goods giant Saha Group.
The Philippines
Lawson Asia Pacific and Puregold Price Club formed a joint venture under the name PG Lawson Company Inc. They opened their first branch in Santa Ana, Manila, on March 30, 2015. Under the partnership, Lawson will provide its expertise in convenience store's know-how and product development while Puregold will provide its expertise in product procurement and localized knowledge of retail consumers. They plan to open 500 stores by 2020.
As of 2019 Lawson Stores do not exist in South Korea. In 1989 after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, some Lawson stores were in South Korea. In 1995 Kolon Group, the parent company of Kolon Industries, bought the rights to Lawson in South Korea. In October 1999 Lotte Corporation purchased the rights to what was left of Lawson from Kolon, and in 2000 the brand was absorbed into the 7-Eleven franchise, which Lotte is licensed to operate in South Korea.
