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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

#181

Post by SapporoChris »

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…

Keep in mind the population density of Tokyo is around 6,224.66/km2 (16,121.8/sq mi). Not going to do the detailed math, but let's say each store has a customer base of a .5 square miles. That's over 4k population. That seems to be plenty of customers to justify the store placement.

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

#182

Post by CydeWeys »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #178
CydeWeys wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That tended to be the only place I found them, and yes, I definitely filled up my water bottles there. This tip tends to work for all countries, not just Japan. Look for green parks on Google Maps, especially named ones, if you're trying to find water fountains.

That tip doesn’t work in China (or at least Beijing and Shanghai). But bottled water is one or two kuai, and someone should be selling somewhere.

Apparently you wouldn't want to drink the tap water there anyway, based on some cursory research.

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

#183

Post by SapporoChris »

bkor wrote: post #113
ilaksh wrote: post #82

It seems like 7 Eleven could help coordinate hours so that one owner could rest but a nearby store would be open at that time.

The article specifically states that 7/11 is preventing various stores from not being open 24/7. E.g. small store, wife is utterly ill, 7/11 doesn't care; store needs to stay open. It seems they like the owner exhausted so they cannot do the things which makes sense. E.g. to sell the food which is close to the expiry date instead of throwing it out. Yet another example from the article.

The article specifically states that 7/11 was preventing various stores from not being open.

“We will let the owners (of franchise stores) make the final decision (on whether to shorten operating hours),” said Seven-Eleven Japan President Fumihiko Nagamatsu.

There is a 7/11 near the Sapporo Zoo that is closed early in the evening.

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

#184

Post by WildGreenLeave »

CydeWeys wrote: post #176
baby wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tbf a bunch of asian countries do not have drinkable tap water or/and drink hot water.

You have to go pretty far down the development scale of nations before you get to undrinkable tap water. I didn't have any problems drinking the tap water in Bangkok for a week, for example.

I've spent time in Bangkok for several weeks now, and although it seems like it is safe to drink, I've talked to a lot of locals that are buying bottled water too.

Also, the smell of chlorine, when you turn the tap on, is enough for me not wanting to try it.

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

#185

Post by irq11 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #179
irq11 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believe it or not, but even in Japan, vending machine prices are 2-3x what you’ll pay in a supermarket. You just don’t notice it as much because prices are low in general. A supermarket can coffee will cost maybe 60-100円 for what you pay 120-200円 in a vending machine.

I didn't find that to be true to such a degree. I was tracking the prices of vending machines pretty closely in Japan, and if you didn't jump at the first one you saw and waited until a more out of the way one, you could typically find almost anything in the 100-120 yen range. My favorites were the "100 yen special" machines where most or all items were 100 yen. The prices were in large red lettering to emphasize the…

Those 100 yen machines are rare. I lived in Kyoto, and can recall seeing only one in the city. People would go out of their way to use it. More typically, you will see machines that have 120円 prices by reducing sizes. Buy the same drink in the conbini next door, and you’d get twice the volume.

Regardless, if you’re in a place where vending machine prices are lower than usual, it only means that the store prices are lower still. There’s no magic here; the vending machine operators are making a healthy profit.

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

#186

Post by kalleboo »

ekianjo wrote: post #145
kalleboo wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In most other other cities there's rarely more than one combini at the same place, and you would not see 5-6 of them just by walking 5 minutes. I live in a prefectural capitol in Southern Kyushu and yeah you're right - we only have 3 convenience stores in 5 minute walking distance. That's in a residential area and not in the central district where there are more. I lived in a similarly sized city in Sweden and ther…

> I lived in a similarly sized city in Sweden and there was literally one single 24/7 convenience store in the whole city. And I think it closed. I could be wrong but that's probably because Sweden has a far too low density of consumers to support this kind of business.

The cities I'm comparing in Japan and Sweden are of a similar population and density. It's a very small city by Japanese standards and the third-largest city by Swedish standards.

I think the differences are less superficial than that. Cost of labor certainly ties into it but also work culture (Japanese people tend to get out of work late)

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

#187

Post by Tharkun »

mft_ wrote: post #115
Tharkun wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't want to cast aspersions on Belgium, but that's atypical. My experience is that wherever you are in the world, McDonald's is usually reliable for its food (you know what you're getting, even if you're not a huge fan of it) and its decent toilets. (I admit there may be some residual rose-tinted-ness to my opinion here, after staying on a Greek island years ago; after days struggling with the idiosyncratic local…

Really? I don't recall ever having used a clean McDo toilet. I can clearly recall filthy toilets in France, Belgium & the UK. I'm not sure where you frequent McDo, but it sounds to me like your experience is more atypical than mine.

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

#188

Post by Tharkun »

spike021 wrote: post #107
Tharkun wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That would make sense, actually, thanks for clarifying that.

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

#189

Post by baby »

CydeWeys wrote: post #176
baby wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tbf a bunch of asian countries do not have drinkable tap water or/and drink hot water.

You have to go pretty far down the development scale of nations before you get to undrinkable tap water. I didn't have any problems drinking the tap water in Bangkok for a week, for example.

that's not true. There are only a few countries in south-east asia with drinkable tap water: brunei, hong kong, japan, singapore, and south korea. You should probably not have drunk that water in Bangkok.

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

#190

Post by logfromblammo »

brazzy wrote: post #153
majos wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would ice cream vendors want to all compete in the same place? It seems economically counter-intuitive.

Because if you operate near your competitor, you can take market share from him without losing the customers that are now farther away from you (because you are still closer to them than your competitor is, and their demand is inflexible).

The same reason why the last Price is Right bidder will sometimes bid $1 more than the existing highest bid in the qualifying round.[0] It takes out one of the three other competitors, unless their guess was exactly correct.

The first ice cream vendor sets up in the center of the boardwalk, to minimize walking distance to all available customers. The second vendor sets up immediately adjacent, to take half the customers, who will stop at the nearest cart instead of walking another 2m. The third vendor, sets up on the opposite side from the 2nd, and then the first loses all their customers. So the first relocates to the other side of the 2nd, and they lose all their customers. Then the 2nd relocates to the other side of the 3rd.

The vendors should really cartelize, divide up exclusive territories, and collude to drive out newer competitors. But whenever the cartel breaks down, or none is active, the individual vendors are constantly trying to cut each others' throats by taking market share from the others. Each ice cream vendor cart needs a certain length of boardwalk territory to remain in business, so any two colluding vendors could force another to move by bracketing the target on either side. The game gets increasingly complex as you add more players, and more so when adding a second dimension, such that the vendors have a territory area, rather than a length.

Secoma is pursuing a strategy of claiming territories too small to support a greedier store, such that 7-11 can't carve away pieces of it without destroying itself and making no gains, whereas 7-11 is pursuing a strategy of sacrificing some of its stores to destroy all of its competitor stores, so that the survivors can divide the secured territories amongst themselves.

The game is like Go, but in real life. Instead of a grid on a board, the moves are putting a franchise store location down on a map. Pieces that are surrounded are removed. Scoring is by profit rather than by territory.

[0] In the qualifying round of Price is Right, 4 contestants try to guess the retail price of an advertised product, as closely as possible, without bidding greater than the actual retail price. The winner is then allowed to play one of the prize-awarding games.

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