Yamada Denki has been involved in strategic management while growing under its corporate philosophy of “creations and challenges.” Last year, the company opened LABI 1 Central Store, Japan, in Ikebukuro, the Yamada Denki Group’s flagship store, as well as becoming the first specialized volume retailer to report 2-trillion-yen sales in Japan, further consolidating its No.1 position among Japanese volume home-appliance retailers. Yamada Denki also began an
　effort to innovate its management last year, believing that laying grounds for future sustainable growth in these sluggish economic times is vital to strengthen the fundamental health of our organization. This year, with a new goal of “practicing field-focused innovation,” all of us are set to do our best to produce results by continuing to focus on improving store efficiency, cash-flow and expense parameters while securing solid sales. Furthermore, Yamada
Denki will continue to further improve the satisfaction of its customers and remain committed to following good corporate citizenship, including taking measures to protect the environment. Yamada Denki will also proactively take part in the Smart Grid, expected to serve as the social infrastructure of a new age. In these and other ways, Yamada Denki will strengthen both its management and its social contributions to help
gain a deeper trust from its customer base for a further leap forward.

　As the market environment grew more difficult, 2009 was a year of a major leap forward for Yamada Denki. The opening of LABI 1 Central Store, Japan, in Ikebukuro, for instance, attracted keen public and industry-wide attention as a very major event on the retail calendar. Yamada Denki finally reached the 2-trillion-yen sales level during this memorable year. Yamada Denki was especially happy to reaffirm that its LABI stores are playing a central role in local community development in areas where they have been opened. It is one of Yamada Denki’s commitments to contribute to the local communities where it operates. We will continue to proactively participate in local development by opening new LABI stores. At the same time, we plan to apply the LABI store model to overseas markets to contribute in similar ways to local community development internationally. To that end, management innovation for the future through “practicing field-focused innovation” is necessary. And it will be “people” who will be practicing that. We will therefore further enhance the strengths of our workforce through exhaustive education and practice innovation in the field. All in all, all of us at Yamada Denki are set to engage in a companywide effort to cope with the next “creations and challenges” that we will face.