is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Its headquarters is on the 17th floor of the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. There are some stores in Japan with the name Circle K Sunkus under the operation of FamilyMart. FamilyMart was, until 2020, a subsidiary of the FamilyMart UNY Holdings Co., Ltd. (UFHD), which also owned supermarket chain Uny. UFHD was dissolved when Uny was acquired by the parent company of Don Quijote in 2020. FamilyMart Co.'s parent company is Itochu, a Japanese trading company, with a stake of 50.1%. On July 8, 2020, Itochu announced it will spend approximately ¥580 billion (approx $5.5 billion) to purchase 100% of FamilyMart, with the intent to sell 4.9% of the shares to Zen-Noh and Norinchukin Bank. FamilyMart shareholders approved the takeover on October 26, and the stock was delisted on November 12, thus leading the completion of the acquisition. All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods such as basic grocery items, magazines, manga, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks like sake, nikuman, fried chicken, onigiri, and bento are available. FamilyMart is known for its distinctive doorbell melody, which is played upon entering the store. The doorbells are exclusively made by Panasonic, and the melody these doorbells play is referred to as Melody Chime No.1 – Daiseikyou, and was originally developed for Panasonic by Yasuhi Inada in 1978. Growth and development The first FamilyMart opened in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in 1973. The store has kept growing, opening 500 stores every 3 years. In 2002, it was listed as a company in Taiwan. FamilyMart currently has franchise stores in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. In October 2013, FamilyMart opened its 10,000th store in Japan. Operations in certain parts of Asia, especially China, continue to expand. As of January 2018, there are 24,243 stores worldwide, with fast growth in Asia outside Japan. There are 17,409 stores in Japan, 3,165 stores in Taiwan, 2,177 stores in China, 1,138 stores in Thailand, 277 stores in Malaysia, 66 stores in the Philippines, 165 stores in Vietnam, and 87 stores in Indonesia, FamilyMart has stores located in all prefectures of Japan. FamilyMart was formerly the largest chain store in South Korea. FamilyMart entered South Korea in 1990 through a franchise