Japan's Seven-Eleven and Lawson to discount foods close to expiration in bid to cut waste
The chains have until now been selling products at list price and had all but banned franchise owners from offering discounts.
With convenience store onigiri, the devil's in the seasoning
FamilyMart and Lawson are dressing up the humble onigiri (rice ball) with new add-ons and seasonings, upping the ante on the snack's standard flavors.
Convenience store chains issue action plans, softening stance on operating hours amid labor pinch
Convenience store operators released actions plans Thursday to address acute labor shortages, which suggest they are becoming more flexible about operating hours. "We will let the owners of (franchise stores) make the final decision" on whether to reduce business hours, said Fumihiko Nagamatsu, president of ...
Lawson's corn pottage Kara-age Kun chicken is a cup of deep-fried nostalgia
To herald the end of the Heisei Era (1989-2019), Lawson is bringing back some retro flavors of its signature Kara-age Kun fried chicken, like corn pottage, and seaweed and salt.
METI asks Japan's convenience store chains to present plans for coping with labor shortage
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko wants the eight major chains to formulate action plans because the labor shortages are straining the 24-hour industry.
Lawson to install self-checkout service in all stores across Japan amid labor crunch
Lawson Inc. will introduce self-checkout systems in all 14,000 of its convenience stores by October to cope with Japan's chronic labor shortage and ease the burden on existing employees, company sources said Monday. Customers across the nation will process their purchases by scanning barcodes themselves ...
Shake up your usual konbini purchase with these not-to-be-skipped sweets
This week, Konbini Watch turns the spotlight on a few assorted convenience store highlights that shouldn't be missed.
Major convenience store chain Lawson Inc. said Friday it will experiment with leaving stores unmanned late at night amid growing calls to modify the industry's round-the-clock operations to cope with the national labor shortage. The trial will last a few months starting this summer with ...
METI tells convenience store operators to come up with plans to cope with Japan's labor crunch
The lack of workers is proving to be a huge challenge to convenience stores, which have become important cogs in the nation’s social infrastructure.
Just how convenient are convenience stores in Japan?
The recent trend of online videos showing "baito tero," or "part-timer terrorism," enacted by part-time workers has sparked another media discussion about the plight of low wage earners. Most of these videos were recorded by people working in food-related businesses, and explanations for why ...
Will removing porn from convenience stores in Japan hurt ailing tabloids?
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 ...
