Kim Jae-myeon (second from right), chairman of the Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative (KVC), poses with affiliated small-business owners and other attendees at a scholarship presentation ceremony marking the cooperative's 51st anniversary, held May 20. [Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative]
Kim Jae-myeon (second from right), chairman of the Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative (KVC), poses with affiliated small-business owners and other attendees at a scholarship presentation ceremony marking the cooperative's 51st anniversary, held May 20. [Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative]

The Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative ran its "2026 Scholarship Project" from March through June 2 to support the welfare of employees at small and midsize retail companies and provide assistance to neighborhood supermarket owners.

The program was designed to ease the education cost burden on workers in the small and midsize retail sector, an industry that has struggled to attract new hires due to its image as a difficult and undesirable field.

The cooperative selected children of employees at 15 small and midsize retail companies nationwide — spanning elementary, middle, high school and university students — and awarded each recipient 800,000 won (about $529) in scholarships. It also chose 10 affiliated neighborhood supermarkets facing financial hardship and provided their owners' children with special scholarships of 1 million won each, totaling 10 million won.

Since 2023, the cooperative has distributed 54.7 million won in scholarships to a combined 114 children of small and midsize retail employees and small-business owners through its "Three-Way Mutual Welfare Project." It has also supported more than 54 people with overseas training programs worth over 100 million won, aimed at cultivating future retail professionals.

The cooperative is also pursuing structural reforms to strengthen small-business owners' self-sufficiency. A budget-priced soju product, "Chakhan Soju 990," developed in collaboration with the Small Enterprise and Market Service and Sunyang Soju and launched in April, has drawn a positive response from neighborhood supermarkets carrying it.

"I hope this scholarship project provides meaningful support to the families of our employees," Korea Superchain Retail Business Cooperative Chairman Kim Jae-myeon said. "We will lead people-centered retail innovation on all fronts."


spa@heraldcorp.com