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The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

japantimes.co.jp

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Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#101

Post by masklinn »

Freak_NL wrote: post #73
CydeWeys wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free public bathrooms everywhere was nice, but there was still a dearth of free public water fountains -- which, admittedly, most cities don't have enough of. Rome is kind of the gold standard in this regard. I loved how some of the vending machines and convenience stores sold hot canned drinks. I've never seen that anywhere in the US. Now the hot canned coffee wasn't actually good (I had to try it), but it was inter…

> Now the hot canned coffee wasn't actually good (I had to try it) You just have to find the one type of can that doesn't have added sugar or milk. Once you know those nothing beats pulling a warm can of black coffee from the machine. Really, the first company to introduce these on stations here in the Netherlands (or anywhere these don't exist) will turn a handsome profit if they stick to the Japanese formula for 自動…

> Once you know those nothing beats pulling a warm can of black coffee from the machine.

I'd say pulling a bottle of warm lemon / lime tea was even better, especially with travel-sore-throat.

> low prices

Aside from providing warm drinks, that's the big ticket right there: IME, european vending machines are basically predatory, they're way overpriced for what they provide and rely on necessity or impulse rather than just doing good business.

Japanese vending machines are omnipresent, well-stocked, with good selection of useful stuff, but more importantly you don't feel like you're throwing money down the drain when you're buying from one. The prices are obviously higher than in a 'mart, but they're not "$5 for a bottle of coke" overpriced.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#102

Post by Kliment »

Symbiote wrote: post #87
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is that, but Japan definitely has potable water (as does Korea, Singapore, maybe Hong Kong). Also SE Asian countries don't bother with hot water as much as northeastern ones, but they generally don't have potable water regardless. The airport in Beijing has a hot water dispenser but I've never seen anyone use it.

Hong Kong had plenty of drinking fountains in parks etc, usually with a sign showing it had been recently inspected for hygiene.

The parks in Shenzhen have water fountains too, including low-level taps for pet bowls (so it doesn't splash on them and scare them)

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#103

Post by esrauch »

coldtea wrote: post #88

How close another franchise would allowed to be should have been part of the contract when opening a store. E.g. "no second franchize store in 1 mile radius" (of course this could differ from place to place based on market and population density).

When I was in Japan there were some cases of four 7/11s visible at once without turning my head, so I think you can set your sights a lot lower than a one mile radius.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#104

Post by Dobbs »

barking wrote: post #99
gambiting wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pharmacies in Poland all operate on this rotating schedule, where at least one pharmacy in town is open 24h(they always post a sign saying where the nearest 24h pharmacy is). I have no idea if it's by law or just a thing that everyone does.

Being a pharmacy contracted to dispense public health service prescriptions is probably contingent on either providing out-of-hours service or being part of a rota that does that. It's that way in lots of countries.

This is something the U.K. could use. Particularly on bank holidays, Sunday’s, or early mornings it can be quite difficult to find a pharmacy.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#105

Post by AstralStorm »

ovi256 wrote: post #94
gambiting wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pharmacies in Poland all operate on this rotating schedule, where at least one pharmacy in town is open 24h(they always post a sign saying where the nearest 24h pharmacy is). I have no idea if it's by law or just a thing that everyone does.

Yes, this is by law and it's a requirement for having a pharmacy operating license. Fun fact: in most of the world, medical personal like pharmacists can't go on strike.

Poland is not part of it then. What does have to happen is that emergency or base services are sustained. That is the one 24h pharmacy. All others can just close.

Similar with doctors in hospitals, as long as emergency service works fine strike is allowed.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#106

Post by spike021 »

karaokeyoga wrote: post #53
ekianjo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Within any given area there is probably 6 to 7 stores within eyeshot and an easy walk. That's just Tokyo and it's a very biased impression. Most places in Japan don't have that kind of density of combinis. I there there are about 55 000 combini in Japan, and there's probably 20% of that in Tokyo alone so you were in an area that's not representative of japan as a whole. In most other other cities there's rarely mor…

From my place in suburban Kyoto, there are five 7-11s within a ten-minute walk. Ten years ago, there was one.

Yeah, I stayed in Kyoto for a week about a month and a half ago. Wasn't even in the "downtown" spot, I was several blocks out, at least IMO.

But there were about 4 7/11's in a two block radius, Lawson's, Family Mart... All over.

I know so well because for one thing I tried to walk most of the time to wherever I went, and for another I enjoyed experimenting with different snacks/desserts every night from conbini.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#107

Post by spike021 »

Tharkun wrote: post #76
patio11 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

McDonalds has clean bathrooms? That's news to me. Source: went for a wee in a McDo in Belgium last week, place was predictably disgusting.

They probably mean in Japan. Which to be quite honest was my experience while visiting for nearly a month two months ago. Bathrooms in general in Japan are very clean, and McDonald's is one of the great places with decent bathrooms to use there.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#108

Post by psychomugs »

frutiger wrote: post #64
bane wrote: post #3

Just 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!

It's still nothing compared to the density of conibinis in Tokyo, sometimes there's 2 of the same chain within eyeshot.
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