emart

Emart opened its first store in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul, on November 12, 1993. and opened its first Emart Ilsan branch (No. 2) in Ilsan New Town on September 8, 1994. Emart was the first large retail store in South Korea. The store was constructed by Kumho Engineering & Construction at the time, and when the friction between Kumho Engineering & Construction and Emart broke out, Kumho Emart became the main body of lease.

On July 7, 1995, the third Ansan branch (closed in December 2012) opened. On December 1, 1995, the fourth Bupyeong branch (closed on June 28, 2018). On November 22, 1996, the fifth store opened in Jeju; on November 30, 1996, the sixth store opened in Bundang. On April 29, 1997, the company opened its eighth Namwon branch, its ninth Anyang branch on August 14, 1997, and its tenth Seobusan branch on August 29, 1997. On October 1, 2004, Emart opened an Internet shopping mall. In May 2006, Emart acquired Walmart Korea, converting 16 Walmart stores into Emart stores. Walmart Korea was accepted and changed to Shinsegae Mart, and in 2008, Walmart Korea was merged entirely with Emart. For a period of time, Emart implemented a "lowest compensation system" that gave gift certificates worth 5,000 won if items were more expensive than other discount stores but ended the promotion in 2007, saying that "some advertisements are false hype".

In September 2007, the Korea Food and Drug Administration announced that chlorphenapir, a pesticide component, was detected above the standard in Emart's first water powder green tea sold under its own brand.

On November 28, 2008, the Agricultural Quality Management Agency restricted Emart's Namyangju branch marking the country of origin as U.S. on the top of the meat package, but double marking as Australian was found on the barcode below.

As of September 2009, Emart has 127 and 4 distribution centers in South Korea. On May 13, 2011, Emart acquired Kim's Club Mart. On April 8, 2016, the "Mart" experience center was opened in Busan, Kizania, and on July 28, 2016, it was opened in Ulaanbaatar.American company Good Food Holdings, Inc., parent of Bristol Farms, was acquired in 2018 by Emart for $275 million. In December 2019, Endeavour Capital announced that it would be selling the grocery chain New Seasons Market to Emart, specifically to its subsidiary, Good Food Holdings, in a sale transaction that was finalized in early 2020.

On May 16, 2018, the Gyeongsan branch and Bupyeong branch closed due to poor performance and overlapping commercial districts with the Gyeyang branch, Shizikolong Skychae was built after demolition, and the Bupyeong branch was built in Bupyeong Jewell. In addition, the company closed its Ulsan Hakseong Branch, Goyang Duck Branch, Incheon Branch, Gwangju Sangmu Branch, and Seobusan Branch and sold all of Costco Korea's shares to Costco's Washington headquarters.

In January 2022, Emart acquired a majority stake (80.01%) in eBay Korea, which it renamed "Gmarket Global". EBay retained a 19.99% stake in the company.