See also: Australia. 7-Elevens are everywhere [1] and the stories of underpaid workers are commonplace [0].
[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/7-elev...
[1]: In the major metropolitan areas.
The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
61–70 of 233 posts
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay, to be fair, I'm definitely talking about big downtown areas exactly like Shinjuku or Shibuya. But I'm also talking about places like すき家 and 松屋 which are pretty good late night drunk eats and we never failed to find a late night pub with crazy hours no matter where we were.
I understand if those places seem amenable to you, but I (and pretty much everyone I know who lived there long term) wouldn't set foot in one of those past their college years. They're horrible for your body. I'd sooner eat conbini food and pass out. The late night pubs do exist, sure, but a lot of them stay open to capture any foot traffic from people missing their last train around midnight. Most don't serve full m…
> I understand if those places seem amenable to you, but I (and pretty much everyone I know who lived there long term) wouldn't set foot in one of those past their college years. They're horrible for your body. I'd sooner eat conbini food and pass out.
Regularly see elders in my local Yoshinoya. The Beef-Salmon set is good.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#63I also just came back from Tokyo and Osaka; I was blown away by how many 7/11s there were and how close they were. The vending machines are amazing. One other thing I would like to import: the widely available, clean bathrooms all over the place. That was super nice.
I've heard the combini's are typically cheaper and better than vending machines although.
No, it usually around the same price. There are also many 100yen vending machine that are way cheaper than conbini.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#64Just came back from Japan and man are there too many convenience stores. Within any given area there is probably 6 to 7 stores within eyeshot and an easy walk. It's weird thinking that they are too convenient, but honestly they start to become pointless. More than once we simply walked by a few knowing that there would be another one just a minute or two more down the street. It's great that we could find something t…
Wait til you visit Manhattan and see how many CVSes and Duane Reades there are!
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#65I don't understand the demand from the parent company to stay open late, given the lack of customers they clearly have and the oversupply of combini. I was at a 7-11 in Osaka by the dotonbori and it was basically vacant. Like many things in Japanese society it seems to be because "this is the way it's done".
You live in a country with franchises, right? What would you articulate as the brand promise of a McDonalds? McDonalds has a very clear internal understanding of that brand promise: it includes clean bathrooms, a smile, extremely low prices available, and very consistent food. 7/11 also has a brand promise. It includes, prominently, “If you need it, 7/11 is open.” The LTV of a conbini regular is very, very, very high…
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Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Overwork is better than no work. No work is rarely the trade-off issue in Japan. They operate for quite different margins and labor practices than eg the US. They haven't had an unemployment rate over 5.5% in 40 years. The typical rate has been 3% to 3.5% for the last 30 years - a time in which they've suffered from perpetual economic stagnation and zero net growth. It's around 2.5% right now. Japan is losing popul…
> Automation is the only path forward, they should be pursuing it with as much vigor as possible. Well, they could always do more immigration. Its not like they don't do some already, and I think the Japanese will become much more open to it in the future.
As far as I understand Japan is already opening. Their new Visa score system is quite broad.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if this matters less in the age of smartphone apps. I tend to check opening hours on Google Maps first before heading to a place when it's outside of obvious business hours (like the middle of the night).
I don't think it does. Decreased friction provides a very real, very large boost to almost any business like this. Any uncertainty or mental effort makes me much less likely to go, especially if there's another option that I am certain will provide me what I want. Conversely, if they're reliable and require little effort, I am much more likely to grow to depend on them habitually.
I think that's probably the deal with a lot of 24-hour businesses. Letting it be known that you're always open may make sense even if the overnight hours aren't always profitable.
I suspect it's true for diners, for instance, and New York bodegas. Insomniacs drinking coffee aren't paying the bills, but they'll come back for lunch or breakfast.
Bars also often seem to stay open as late as they legally can, even if it's just the bartender and the town drunk on a typical night.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#68Just came back from Japan and man are there too many convenience stores. Within any given area there is probably 6 to 7 stores within eyeshot and an easy walk. It's weird thinking that they are too convenient, but honestly they start to become pointless. More than once we simply walked by a few knowing that there would be another one just a minute or two more down the street. It's great that we could find something t…
Compared to what? Here in the USA there are several places within walking distance from my home that have a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. One of them is an intersection where 3 of the 4 corners have a Starbucks. There's at least one building here with 2 Starbucks in it, in case taking the elevator is too much hassle. Japan doesn't sound all that much different in this respect.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#69One advantage of the prolific Japanese convenience store (or "konbini") is that any improvement in the underlying franchise system can be rapidly deployed to all franchisees (like nodes in a network). This is true of many franchises, but the konbini are exceptionally prolific, so this effect is magnified.
For example, if there is an opportunity to increase efficiency, or reduce costs or environmental impact, it would be relatively easy to deploy this throughout an entire franchise, as compared with heterogenous stores.
As for the issue of opening hours, labour shortages and demographic trends (the population is aging and decreasing) are significant. I am only aware of two likely solutions which are not mutually exclusive: (1) immigration; and (2) automation, ie. robots. Increasing the fertility rate might also address this issue, but seems less likely to happen.
Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store
#70See also: Australia. 7-Elevens are everywhere [1] and the stories of underpaid workers are commonplace [0]. [0]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/7-elev... [1]: In the major metropolitan areas.
I'm in Adelaide and convenience stores are not super common. There is usually one on each major street but nowhere near as much as the other states. When I was in Sydney it was a massive shock to see 711 everywhere. It was quite often to have 2-3 of them within my field of vision.