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Japanese Stores Take Convenience To a New Level
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Food, too, is intensively managed and several cuts above the quality generally found in U.S. convenience stores. The typical Japanese store is visited 10 times a day by delivery trucks, most of them bringing in fresh lunchboxes, pastries, desserts and vegetables -- and hauling away perishable food that has failed to sell in the past few hours.
Then there are cigarettes. They have been very, very good for convenience stores, especially this year.
About 40 percent of Japanese men smoke, one of the highest rates in the developed world and nearly double the rate for men in the United States. Struggling to bring the smoking rate down, Japan this summer introduced "smart cards," which can be obtained only by adults and which are necessary to buy cigarettes at vending machines. The cards, though, have proved unpopular with smokers, who come instead to convenience stores to buy cigarettes from a human being.
Since the law went into effect in July, convenience stores' sales have increased sharply. But sales were growing this spring anyway, before the new law, as the Japanese economy began to slide into recession and sales at supermarkets and department stores floundered.
"We are always very strong during bad times," said Kaieda, from the convenience store association, noting that convenience stores grew vigorously during Japan's "lost decade" of recession in the 1990s. "Our share of the markets goes up because other sales go down. We are not doing bad at all."
Here in Yokohama, Happy Lawson seems to have figured out the needs of a broad spectrum of customers. The place is packed at midday with moms, children, businessmen, students and retirees.
"It is handy to come here to buy diapers, pay bills and make bookings for trips," said Mazuna Okata, 35, who sat with her daughter Ayuma, 2, at a table in Happy Lawson's play area. "Here it is welcome to have kids screaming."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
