Wu Yao-ting

The Old President Department Store (left) was a 12-floor building. It was destroyed by a fire accident in 1995 and temporarily restored into a 4-floor store at present

Wu Yao-ting (Chinese: 吳耀庭; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ngô͘ Iāu-têng; born June 20, 1926 in Kari Town, Hokumon District, Tainan Prefecture, Japanese-era Taiwan (modern-day Jiali, Tainan)), a Taiwanese businessman, is the founder of the President Department Store and other businesses such as supermarket, hotel, and food industry.

In 1958, Wu established the Taiwanese-owned department store of Taiwan, which called as Ta Shing (大新百貨). In 1975, he subsequently established the President Department Store (大統百貨), the largest department store of Taiwan at that time. In 1984, Wu founded the Talee Department Store (大立百貨) which became a Japanese style department store Talee-Isetan (大立伊勢丹) later.

Additionally, Wu also founded Hotel Kingdom (華王飯店) and collaborates with Costco in Taiwan to operate several warehouse supermarkets. The department stores, hotels, supermarkets and shopping malls established by Wu are now being managed by the President Group (大統集團).

References

• 祝小珍, 大統百貨　稱霸南台灣20年　吳耀庭傳奇創業, ETToday (NOWnews)