Japan convenience store chain Ministop tests shorter operating hours at franchise outlets
Convenience store operator Ministop Co. is experimenting with shortened service hours at dozens of its franchise shops. Seventy stores have signed up for the trial, which began in September and runs until the end of February. The initiative will be expanded if more stores wish ...
Seven & I Holdings to cut 3,000 jobs and close 1,000 7-Eleven convenience stores across Japan
The number of domestic convenience stores operated by Seven-Eleven Japan Co. dropped by 24 in September from the previous month to 20,993, marking the first fall in five years, company officials said Friday. The figures came a day after its parent, Seven & I Holdings ...
One-hundred Lawson stores to close on New Year's Day amid Japan's labor crunch
Convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc. said Wednesday that it will close around 100 outlets, less than 1 percent of its nationwide network of over 14,000 stores, on Jan. 1, 2020. The closure will be carried out on a trial basis as part of work-style ...
Japan's consumers and workers struggle to adjust on first day of consumption tax hike
Under a system intended to lighten the burden on low income households, tax rates for foods vary depending on where items are consumed, causing confusion for many.
U.S. Seven-Eleven body to work with Japan peers to highlight difficulty of 24/7 operations
A U.S. body representing Seven-Eleven convenience store owners said Thursday it will seek to work together with Japanese owners on tackling the issue of running 24-hour operations in a tight labor market. "We want to help (the Japanese franchisees) to get started in lobbying and ...
Japan convenience store sales rose in August for first time in three months
Japan's convenience store sales rose 0.8 percent in August from a year earlier for the first increase in three months as temperatures helped boost sales of beverages and ice cream, an industry body said Friday. Same-store sales at seven major convenience store operators totaled ¥936.3 ...
Amazon Japan G.K. on Wednesday started a locker delivery service, Amazon Hub, aimed at enhancing convenience for customers and reducing the need for re-deliveries. The e-commerce giant has installed lockers at FamilyMart Co. convenience stores and other locations for customers to pick up their packages. Amazon ...
Unpicking the mysteries of a Japanese convenience store at night
"Ping-pong, ping-pong! Ping-pong, ping-pong!" The automatic doors slide open and you step onto the mat on the inside of the convenience store. A strong smell of freshly brewed coffee hits you from the counter where a woman is making herself a ¥100 cup. There is ...
Japan credit card firms may apply discounts to monthly payments to ease impact of tax hike
Major credit card companies are considering deducting points earned during purchases from the balance requiring payment, under a government rebate program intended to cushion the impact of the consumption tax hike planned for October, it was learned Tuesday. Observers have suggested such a move would ...
In first convenience store tie-up, Uber Eats to try delivering Lawson goods in Tokyo
Uber Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it will start delivering Lawson Inc. convenience store items on a trial basis starting this week. In the U.S. ride-hailing giant's first delivery tie-up with a convenience store operator, Uber Eats will take orders for around 100 items, including cooked ...
Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is threatening to terminate the franchise contract for a store in Osaka Prefecture after the owner announced plans to close on Sundays due to a shortage of labor, sources said Friday. On Friday morning, Mitoshi Matsumoto, the owner of the store in ...
As population ages, Japan's convenience stores find future in funerals
It might escape the notice of a passerby that Davius Living Yamato, a one-story building standing unassumingly on a street in Kanagawa Prefecture, is a funeral parlor. Little about the exterior of this no-frills facility suggests anything funereal inside. In fact, if you mistook it ...
