RT-Mart was a 29-year Taiwanese retail icon — then PX Mart bought it and killed the brand

RT-Mart (大潤發) was one of Taiwan's three dominant hypermarket chains, founded in 1996 by the Ruentex Group (潤泰集團) and co-owned by French retailer Auchan from 2001. At its peak in the 2010s, it operated 24 stores across Taiwan with annual revenue exceeding NT$40 billion and employed over 4,800 people. It was a pillar of Taiwan's retail landscape for nearly three decades.

The decline was a slow grind rather than a sudden collapse. Taiwan's retail market had been transforming: the island has the highest density of convenience stores in Asia, ecommerce penetration grew steadily, and households got smaller — making the bulk-buy hypermarket model less relevant. Revenue slipped to NT$29 billion by 2024. Auchan, facing operational crises globally, began exiting Asian markets, selling its mainland China hypermarket chain (高鑫零售, 446 stores) in 2020. RT-Mart Taiwan was next.

In October 2021, PX Mart (全聯福利中心), Taiwan's largest supermarket chain with over 1,100 stores, announced the acquisition of 95.97% of RT-Mart Taiwan for NT$115 billion (approximately US$3.7 billion). The deal was approved by the Fair Trade Commission in July 2022. PX Mart's chairman Lin Min-hui (林敏雄) described the acquisition as a real estate play as much as a retail one — RT-Mart owned valuable land and buildings across Taiwan. The integration took three years. On March 28, 2025, PX Mart announced the RT-Mart brand would be fully retired.

The first new 大全聯 sign went up at the Tucheng store on July 17, 2025. By August 1, 2025, all 20 remaining RT-Mart stores had been rebranded to 大全聯. RT-Mart's loyalty currency, 發幣, was converted to PX Mart's福利點 at a rate of 1:10. A 29-year Taiwanese retail institution disappeared — not through bankruptcy, but because the model that built it no longer justified a standalone brand.