The story
Hyung-suk Chah (채형석) began construction of the first department store in March 1991 in Guro District, Seoul. The store opened on September 10, 1993, as the Aekyung Department Store. The store had five basement floors and seven aboveground floors, with a total cost of 120 billion won (120 million US dollars). The success of the Guro store was allegedly used as the basis for opening other branches.
In July 2000, Aekyung Group was chosen to open a store in Incheon International Airport after Hotel Shilla gave up its subcontractor rights. The store was opened on March 29, 2001, as the 'AK Duty Free.' It was the first AK duty-free shop. The Aekyung Group opened an Aekyung Department Store branch in Suwon on February 14, 2003. The store had one basement floor and six aboveground floors. It was the biggest civilian construction in South Korea at that time.
In March 2007, the Aekyung Group took over ₩470 billion's ($461,596,000) worth of intermediary business from Samsung C&T Corporation, including the Samsung Plaza, the first department store in Bundang-gu which had opened on November 1, 1997.
On February 3, 2009, the Aekyung Group announced it will change its brand image to AK Plaza. The logo of Aekyung Department Store, Samsung Plaza, and the online site was changed AK Plaza on March 2.
The Pyeongtaek branch was opened on April 24, 2009, as the fourth store. The Wonju branch was opened on April 6, 2012, with 5 basement stories and 7 above ground stories, though the company website claims it was opened on March 6.
From Wikipedia’s article on AK Plaza, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4