In 1974, the Ministry of the Interior founded the Jūngōngjiào Fúlì Zhōngxīn (軍公教福利中心), a supermarket with cheaper prices and no sales tax whose access is restricted to military, civil servants, and educators.[4][5] In 1989, the supermarket was reorganized to create Quánliánshè (全聯社)[a] that catered to civil servants and educators;[6] the military maintained its own supermarket, which still exists to this day.[7] In 1998, several executives were found to have embezzled money. Nine people were charged, but were all eventually found not guilty.[8][9] During the controversy, the company was privatized and headed by Lin Ming-Hsiung, founder of Yuanlih Construction (元利建設); its 66 stores were rebranded as PX Mart and were opened to the public.[10][11]
Under new leadership, Lin aggressively increased their market share through mergers with other chains, acquiring Yanglianshe (楊聯社) in 2004, the stores in Taiwan owned by the Japanese chain Summit (supermarket) [ja] in 2006, and the stores operated by Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation [zh] in 2007.[12] The supermarket operated as a discount store and kept consumer prices down through unconventional strategies, such as opening smaller stores in discreet locations or outside urban areas, and not accepting card payments to avoid processing fees.[5][10][13] In 2006, PX Mart launched its long-running advertising campaign known as "Mister PX Mart" (全聯先生), which features a man in a deadpan voice describing the chain's lack of extra services to achieve low prices.[14][15]
^陳彥淳 (April 10, 2013). "全聯林敏雄扳倒家樂福的祕密". Wealth Magazine (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^蔡孟修 (July 25, 2013). "全聯百億物流中心 力拼量販龍頭寶座". ETToday (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^林瑞明 (October 31, 2012). "全聯加入全日本超市協會 「生活良好」系列商品登台". Yam News (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^"台湾全土での生活良好発売開始のお知らせ"(PDF). All Japan Supermarket Association (in Japanese). November 6, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^蔡怡杼 (November 21, 2013). "中信銀固守零售版圖 打破全聯15年不刷卡習慣". ETToday (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^李至和 (June 26, 2014). "全聯二代店 要推小農專區". United Daily News (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on June 28, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^林海; 戴安瑋 (November 13, 2015). "4.5億買松青 全聯衝832家". Apple Daily (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
^楊雅民 (July 29, 2020). "全聯砸250億元 打造北中南物流園區". Liberty Times (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved October 25, 2021.
Media related to PX Mart at Wikimedia Commons
