Conbini Franchises in Japan

For those of who wonder about Conbini (konbini, コンビニ) or convenience store franchises in Japan, here is the list. The order below is according to sales as of April 2011 from Japanese Wikipedia.

1. Seven Eleven セブンイレブン

Take a look at this Seven Eleven TV commercial featuring members of AKB48, the idol girls unit consisting of 48 girls, all of whom competed for one of the treasured spots in this popular song and dance troupe. "AKB" is the term of abbreviation of AKihaBara. Akihabara is the huge shopping district in Tokyo catering to anime, electronics and gaming fans; it is also commonly called "Akiba". If you want to learn more, do an internet or YouTube search of Akihabara or AKB48).

The enterprise of Seven Eleven in Japan, Seven and Ai, also runs Ito Yokado (supermarkets) and Sogo/Seibu (department stores).

2. Lawson　ローソン

This is a commercial advertising the everyday goods they sell. From this ad you can see what the inside of a Japanese convenience store looks like.

The enterprise of Lawson is run by Daiei group, currently owned by Mitsubishi, a long time supermarket franchise chain. The English Wiki says Lawson originated in Ohio, USA. It seems there are no stores like this in the US now -- but about 10,000 of them are in Japan!

3. Family Mart ファミリーマート Nickname: Famima ファミマ


The enterprise of Family Mart, Seiyu group, is another supermarket franchise chain which currently consolidated with Itochu. It also owns am/pm, another convenience store franchise which looks a lot like a typical US convenience store.

The above three businesses each have about 10,000 franchise stores in Japan. Lawson and Family Mart are nationwide. I see Seven Eleven everywhere in Tokyo but it may not be in some other areas. There are quite a few local franchise chains as well but some of other major almost-nationwide franchises are:

- Circle K Thanks サークルKサンクス
- Ministop ミニストップ: this franchises have an eat-in corner in the store.
- Daily Yamazaki デイリーヤマザキ: this franchise business is run by a long-run bakery manufacturer Yamazaki Pan ("pan" means "bread" in Japanese). Lots these franchises used to be bakeries. So the tradition has carried on; they still sell bakery goods today.

I see convenience stores in Japan often at the spot where a bakery-sweets shop, liquor store or cigarette shop used to be. The stores selling cigarettes used to be a government licensed businesses (I think it is still but selling cigarettes used to be a government-run monopolized business in Japan) and each store had to be a certain distance from another store. It often was a tiny spot with an Obaasann (old lady) inside with a Neko (cat) over the counter, that was a typical scene of a Tabako-ya (tabaco shop) in Japan. Since the 70's vending machines gradually taken the place of such Tabako-ya businesses. I doubt most young people even know of these businesses. They may not even know the word. Now, most vending machines with cigarettes and alcohol drinks in Japan require an IC card to prove the age of the buyer. It is not very convenient for me as a short time visitor, but there are convenience stores everywhere so I can always drop in at one of them. Many train and bus stations usually have at least one shop for selling these items and most of them likely have at least one convenience store.

However, once I was with my family, I had a hard time. I used to live there but the area had changed quite a bit while I was away. I found vending machines but had no IC card, so I couldn't get a pack of cigarettes. (Yeah, I should quit smoking but it's not the subject here.) Anyway, I walked around a long time and decided to go to the train station area since they have a few Conbini around there. I took the way I used to walk to the station. The landscape very much changed but then I remembered there was a Tabako-ya up the street, so I walked on. There, in the same spot as in my fading memory, I found a perfect Tabako-ya with Obaasan and Neko.

I was too young to visit her store when I walked there everyday so I never knew her and the store at all, but it was right there as the everyday scene which always just passed by in the corner of my eye. The Obaasan, very tiny, about the same size as her sitting on her knees over the counter (well, I probably need an explanation here too. Over the tiny store counter, there is a rather tiny tatami room. Obaasan and Neko are sitting there together on the tatami floor, not on a chair). She let me come in and view the inventory section of the tiny store, talking about the weather and stuff for traditional greeting, explaining the brands I am no longer familiar with, thanked me so many times for buying a pack of cigarettes. I felt, I should pay more for this wonderful customer service! I wish I could have stayed there longer.... really.

Convenience store clerks in Japan are generally very polite and nice, which I like, but they are trained to act in accordance with a strict manual. I respect the manual working well but a tiny complaint I have about it is, the less than human communication, especially for non-regulars. Everywhere they give me the same set of words. They really sell convenience which is good and I like it but sometimes, I'd love to have personal atmosphere a bit more.

Well, if I were to encounter it during my morning commute, I'd surely lose patience with the Obaasan's long talking and slow motion exchange of merchandise and money. But the good thing is, such personal slow businesses still exists in Japan. I'll show you more of both -- "slow business" and "fast business" -- in future posts.

The New Trend in Convenience Stores: "Otona Conbini"

When you think of a "convenience store" in the U.S., what image does it bring to mind? To me, it is a store where I may need to stop during a road trip or for getting emergency help during the holidays. For others, it may conjure the image of a thief on a security camera. I don't play the lottery, I don't drink soda pop, I don't pay $1 for a tiny pack of chips, so it's just not a place I usually "want" to go.

In Japan, on the other hand, I'll stop by at least two every day during my visit. There they call it "Conbini" (abbreviation of "convini"-ence); and there it's a place where I "want" to go. This clip is a TV commercial of a Seven Eleven for Christmas cakes. The girls are idol group AKB48: this is the image what Japanese Conbini imposes in Japan. Wow.

That's the first stop after arriving Narita for me. Conbini are everywhere in Japan. Hearing "irasshaimase ("Welcome!" - they greet every customer who enters) at the door and seeing snacks and Japanese fast foods makes me feel like I'm back. First I check the magazine section. I've gotta catch up with the "news". Then I go along the shelves of snacks. I'm not a sweet eater but I just wanna see their neat and cute sweets. So, instead of sweets, I check the liquor section if they have one. And then I take a look at their cosmetics and stationary. Each conbini chain may have their original brands of cosmetics and some of them are pretty good. I usually buy a pen or an eraser just because Japanese pens and erasers are always nice, even the ones from a conbini.

After checking in at the hotel, I go out and stop at a nearby conbini to get my dinner. It may sound bad to pick up something to eat at a convenience store but not in Japan. Their refrigerated open shelves have a variety of lunch boxes, even for dinner time, called "conbini bento". They also have sandwiches, pastries, a wide variety of onigiri (rice balls, something inside or mixed in rice); they constantly add new kinds of foods but keep traditional ones as well. Their salads are not the kind with only lettuce and shredded cabbage and a slice of tomato. They have cooked vegetable dishes as well as tiny packs of appetizers. Some stores only show the lunch boxes without rice. That is because a store clerk will put hot rice into the box from the rice jar after heating up the other food in the lunch box in a microwave by the cashier area. So I can eat warmed up food with hot rice. Of course I get a bottle of green tea.

I eat this conbini hot meal in the hotel room while watching Japanese TV. It's good enough for the night when a rest is more necessary than excitement. Browsing the conbini shelves can be a great way to pass the evening. Take note: some pricy hotels don't allow guests to bring foods and drinks int0 the room (they are supposed to order room services). But I don't worry about that since I don't stay at the more expensive hotels.

I envy Japanese who get to take advantage of and enjoy their everyday go to place, the conbini. Japanese people use convenience stores often, so they are everywhere. You'll probably see one or two in the mid size to big train stations. Some hotels have one on their property. Most of them take care of shipping UPS and FedEx packages. They have machines to get tickets of all kinds, an ATM, copy machines of course. So many services are available, therefore they truly earn their name "convenience" store. Each chain sells their own original foods and other goods; people go to a particular chain store for a particular need.

Now some people criticize conbini because they only target young people. Groups of school kids hang around in or outside of the store; they tend to get rowdy or a bit wild at times. Their food selection is very much kid oriented. So, recently, some convenience store owners have designed a store for mature audiences. They call it "Otona (adult) Conbini". Okay, the name might be unfortunate because in English it sounds like an adult bookstore with pornographic things for sale -- but of course it's not.

Instead of cheap, high calorie high sugar (actually, high salt is more of a problem in Japan though) unhealthy snacks, they sell health conscious snacks with natural ingredients. Instead of cheap toy-like cosmetics, they sell natural soaps. The project group of promoting such conbini items has produced items with the aim to market to and attract adult consumers. Lately they opened the first store in the Tokyo suburb of Daikanyama as a franchise of Family Mart.

It is like a convenience store version of Whole Foods. Daikanyama is a higher income neighborhood and the concept of such a store is likely to be accepted here. The prices are about 10% higher than other Family Mart franchises but their items are not regular conbini items. More health and environment conscious foods and goods are stocked for customers. The store matches the landscape, of course.

Well, I'm not from such an area and it sounds a bit too snobby to me, but we'll see. I don't know if this convenience store for adults will be successful even in Tokyo. However, I wouldn't complain if such a trend was adopted by the convenience store in my neighborhood.