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A peek into Japan's convenience stores

one-from-nippon.ghost.io

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Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#71

Post by OfSanguineFire »

betaby wrote: post #63

Reality is a bit sad though - those convenience stories barely survive on tiny margins, owners pay a lot to franchises, must be open as franchise says, pay is terrible. Google would find some articles in English about that.

There is an upside to that: since pay is so low, kombinis began to hire foreign workers. That in turn made has made Japanese society more accepting than in decades past of the idea of foreigners speaking Japanese (prior to this, the superstition was strong that Japanese was unique and mysterious, and foreigners could never really grok it). Now any foreigner in Japan benefits.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#72

Post by bojo »

technothrasher wrote: post #70
Larrikin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After living there and coming back I'm still trying to figure out how they get my money when I'm there. In the US it is an obvious choice to not waste your money at 7-11. The gas is more expensive than Sheetz usually, their hotdog like products and terrible pizza have been sitting under a heat lamp for more than a day. And every product there is cheaper elsewhere. But 7 and I holding still is much better. But it's no…

> All convenience stores in the US are basically terrible I've noticed a recent trend of gas stations here in the US starting to have upscale convenience stores attached to them, with more upscale products, clean bathrooms, actual quality food, made to order sandwich counters, etc. As for Japan, the only convenience store I went into in Tokyo, I got freaked out when all the employees stopped and greeted me in unison.…

That greeting is traditional in Japan regardless of whatever type of store, restaurant, hotel, anything you walk into.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#73

Post by technothrasher »

bojo wrote: post #72
technothrasher wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All convenience stores in the US are basically terrible I've noticed a recent trend of gas stations here in the US starting to have upscale convenience stores attached to them, with more upscale products, clean bathrooms, actual quality food, made to order sandwich counters, etc. As for Japan, the only convenience store I went into in Tokyo, I got freaked out when all the employees stopped and greeted me in unison.…

That greeting is traditional in Japan regardless of whatever type of store, restaurant, hotel, anything you walk into.

I fully recognized it as my problem, not theirs. Just culture shock, really.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#74

Post by phreack »

bemmu wrote: post #64
anuraaga wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Underwear is indeed sold but the reason being spending nights at the office is probably mostly joking, hours can get long but not Elon long. The underwear is for all the "Spend the night at xxx" situations you can probably imagine anywhere in the world (pun intended).

You don’t even need a special situation. If I’m at the convini for food, but also happen to need socks/shirt/underwear, and it’s right there, why make a separate trip somewhere else to buy it?

Something as simple as getting caught in rain and needing an emergency change of wet socks meant these convienence stores were lifesaving. Truly something worth emulating in other countries.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#75

Post by shagie »

technothrasher wrote: post #70
Larrikin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After living there and coming back I'm still trying to figure out how they get my money when I'm there. In the US it is an obvious choice to not waste your money at 7-11. The gas is more expensive than Sheetz usually, their hotdog like products and terrible pizza have been sitting under a heat lamp for more than a day. And every product there is cheaper elsewhere. But 7 and I holding still is much better. But it's no…

> All convenience stores in the US are basically terrible I've noticed a recent trend of gas stations here in the US starting to have upscale convenience stores attached to them, with more upscale products, clean bathrooms, actual quality food, made to order sandwich counters, etc. As for Japan, the only convenience store I went into in Tokyo, I got freaked out when all the employees stopped and greeted me in unison.…

> I've noticed a recent trend of gas stations here in the US starting to have upscale convenience stores attached to them, with more upscale products, clean bathrooms, actual quality food, made to order sandwich counters, etc.

In rural areas, these serve the purpose of the general store of days of yore.

Consider https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60082-d101743...

It's small grocery/hardware store with a gas station attached. Where the footprint permits, city folks appreciate being able to go one now that the corner stores are less common (and arguably less reputable) and they don't need to go all the way across town to get to a grocery store to buy some fresh fruit and some eggs.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#76

Post by drumhead »

Its the frequency of combini that makes them so good. They're everywhere, and you're never further than a few minutes from one. They sell some really good quality food at a very reasonable price (especially their onigiri). The variety of drinks is also pretty awesome. It makes the experience of living in a mega city like Tokyo much more pleaseant and easy.

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#77

Post by nodakai »

technothrasher wrote: post #70
Larrikin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After living there and coming back I'm still trying to figure out how they get my money when I'm there. In the US it is an obvious choice to not waste your money at 7-11. The gas is more expensive than Sheetz usually, their hotdog like products and terrible pizza have been sitting under a heat lamp for more than a day. And every product there is cheaper elsewhere. But 7 and I holding still is much better. But it's no…

> All convenience stores in the US are basically terrible I've noticed a recent trend of gas stations here in the US starting to have upscale convenience stores attached to them, with more upscale products, clean bathrooms, actual quality food, made to order sandwich counters, etc. As for Japan, the only convenience store I went into in Tokyo, I got freaked out when all the employees stopped and greeted me in unison.…

The greetings are partly intended to prevent shoplifting. "We are aware you entered our store, we are watching you."

Well, it's fair to say the "unison" part is a Japanese thing...

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#78

Post by mgsouth »

5e92cb50239222b wrote: post #69
bananatype wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Philippines, you can pay for your bills on any 7-11 store: electricity, water, phone, cable TV, internet, even pay for ship or plane tickets (because not many Filipinos own credit cards).

You were hellbanned years ago, so sadly a lot of your comments about life in the Philippines have been in vain. You might want to reach out to HN, maybe some sort of automation fucked up.

??? I'm not seeing a ban; comments are visible to me. Perhaps mixing up with someone else?

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#79

Post by _8j50 »

Here in the US, while there are plenty of bad convenience stores, I know plenty larger chain stores, especially between cities (buck-ee's in texas!) where I have eaten some of the best tacos, pizza and fried chicken. Having fastfood chains in a convenience store is also common and the bigger ones always have sitting spots. Not to mention love's, flying j's and other truck stops have even more stuff and the clealiness is an issue typically in smaller stores.

I don't get the whole japan's grass is greener sentiment but my observation is that consumers in the US have exactly what they want with this respect.

I'm curious, how hard is it to pay in cash or to get service as anything but a light skinned person in a japan convenience store?

Re: A peek into Japan's convenience stores

#80

Post by Scramblejams »

kizunajp wrote: post #2

On my previous post ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36110833#36123339 ) many people encouraged me to write about Japan's convenience stores, so here it is! Thank you HN! I had a LOT of fun writing this!

Just a note, it was paywalled for me until I opened it in incognito mode.
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