Business | Longform Oct 11, 2021
Japan’s convenience stores look to the future
by Patrick St. Michel
Domestic franchises are struggling to remain relevant as consumer habits change and global competition intensifies.
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH Feb 27, 2021
Family Mart serves up a game-changing dessert
by Patrick St. Michel
Family Mart was never a go-to shop after dinner, but two new treats promise to change all that — as long as you eat all your vegetables.
Business / Corporate Jun 25, 2019
Ministop begins charging for plastic bags at two Chiba stores
Major convenience store operator Ministop Co. started an experiment this week to charge for plastic bags at two of its stores in Chiba Prefecture amid heightened environmental awareness worldwide and the government's policy to ban free plastic bags. The experiment began Monday at two stores ...
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH May 11, 2019
FamilyMart is making bubble tea more summer-worthy ... by freezing it
by Patrick St. Michel
FamilyMart recently unveiled a tapioca tea latte kakigōri (shaved ice), transforming trendy bubble tea into a fully fledged dessert.
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Feb 16, 2019
Will removing porn from convenience stores in Japan hurt ailing tabloids?
by Mark Screiber
Don't go looking for titillation at your local convenience store. As reported last month, Japan's three largest convenience chain operators — 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson — are planning to halt sales of pornographic magazines nationwide by the end of August. While the operators pointed ...
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH Feb 16, 2019
Temptation from the fried-foods section
by Patrick St. Michel
We're almost seven weeks into the new year — how are those resolutions going? Still going strong? Good for you! Now get out of here and let the rest of us bask in our failures. To anyone who has given up on eating healthy, ...
National / Social Issues Dec 8, 2018
by Andrew McKirdy
Phan Hoang Tu Linh feels she has gotten the hang of working in a Japanese convenience store now, but she admits she found it tough at first. "We have three cash registers in our store but only two lines to wait in," says the 23-year-old ...
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH May 12, 2018
Family Mart's frozen, Technicolor frappes: drink them for the gram
by Patrick St. Michel
Instagram-friendly food has made it to the final frontier — convenience stores. Plenty of konbini offerings in the last couple of years have looked good enough to share on social media, but Family Mart appears to be the first to sell something explicitly designed ...
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH Oct 28, 2017
You look like you've seen a Ghost Pumpkin Cream Puff
by Patrick St. Michel
It's the last weekend to indulge in Halloween-themed sweets from Japan's convenience stores. Fortunately, all of the nation's main konbini players have their limited edition desserts on shelves now. And, given the country's newfound love of Oct. 31, there are plenty of black ...
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 16, 2017
Konbini book sales are bound to make a difference
by Mark Schreiber
It should be evident to anyone who rides a commuter train or bus that Japan is a nation of people who take reading seriously. Needless to say, however, their reading habits, and readers' tastes, have been changing with the times. "In the old days, we'd ...
Food & Drink | KONBINI WATCH Jul 22, 2017
Lemon No Baumkuchen: Not all that glitters is snack gold
by Patrick St. Michel
Family Mart is putting forward some sophisticated sweets for the next few months. The chain recently debuted its new "Jewelry Sweets" line, which are premium items accented by shiny but edible flourishes. The line gets its own special area in the store (at least ...
National Sep 14, 2015
Stores fire up their networks to quickly send aid to flood areas
by Magdalena Osumi
Following torrential rain that triggered massive flooding in the northeast and led to the evacuation of thousands of people, major retailers and convenience store operators rushed to deliver supplies for those affected by the disaster. When news broke Thursday that the collapse of the banks ...