is the acronym for Japan United Stores Company, a chain of "general merchandise stores" (or hypermarket) and the largest of its type in Japan. The various JUSCO companies are subsidiaries of the ÆON supermarket chain. The JUSCO name was adopted in 1970 from a company founded as a kimono silk trader in 1758. Renamed ÆON in 1989, it operates stores throughout Japan under JUSCO and other names and also has a presence in Malaysia, Hong Kong, mainland China and Thailand. As of March 1, 2011, all JUSCO and SATY stores under the Aeon umbrella in Japan changed their names to AEON while all the JUSCO stores and shopping centres in Malaysia have been fully re-branded into AEON since March 2012. The Hong Kong and Mainland China subsidiaries officially changed their name to AEON on 1 March 2013. History In the 1970s, JUSCO was constituted by Mie Prefecture, Kyoto and Hyogo in Japan and was named Japan United Stores COmpany. (Shortened form JUSCO). After that, it experienced rapid development. Currently there are about 300 stores in Japan itself and still counting. The group was renamed AEON in 1990, but its retail stores were still using the old name JUSCO. In late 2010, AEON announced that all existing JUSCO stores in Japan would gradually be renamed AEON. The re-branding exercise began in March 2011 and was complete by the end of that year. International ventures Malaysia In 1985, the first JUSCO store outside Japan was opened in Plaza Dayabumi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a jointly-owned company with Cold Storage and three local companies, known as Jaya JUSCO. It was the first time that a Japanese company had entered into a significant joint venture in the Malaysian retail industry. JUSCO assumed total operational control of the chain in 1988. Currently. there are 62 AEON (formerly known as JUSCO) Retails stores and shopping centres are in operation in Malaysia. The oldest (though not the first) JUSCO store in Malaysia is JUSCO Taman Maluri in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. It opened on 30 October 1989. The AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre in Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia is the largest JUSCO in Malaysia and Southeast Asia with over of built-up area and 5,000 car park bays. JUSCO in Malaysia is notable for being among the first general merchandise chains to introduce biodegradable polybags made from sweet potatoes. In March 2012, all the JUSCO stores and