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Japan’s convenience stores look to the future

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.

Family Mart serves up a game-changing dessert

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.

Ministop begins charging for plastic bags at two Chiba stores

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 ...

FamilyMart is making bubble tea more summer-worthy ... by freezing it

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.

Will removing porn from convenience stores in Japan hurt ailing tabloids?

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 ...

Temptation from the fried-foods section

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, ...

Irasshaimase!: Foreign-born clerks are becoming a familiar sight at convenience stores nationwide, but is Japan ready to welcome them?

National / Social Issues Dec 8, 2018

Irasshaimase!: Foreign-born clerks are becoming a familiar sight at convenience stores nationwide, but is Japan ready to welcome them?

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 ...

Family Mart's frozen, Technicolor frappes: drink them for the gram

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 ...

You look like you've seen a Ghost Pumpkin Cream Puff

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 ...

<em>Konbini</em> book sales are bound to make a difference

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 ...

Lemon No Baumkuchen: Not all that glitters is snack gold

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 ...

Stores fire up their networks to quickly send aid to flood areas

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 ...

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