Your 'local everything': What 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan

I’m here in Chuo City in Tokyo visiting. I’d prefer Seven & I to stay in Japanese hands. Japanese 7-Eleven is an icon. With that said, I patronize the local mom & pop Maruman grocer near my hotel more everyday of my stay. As the 2 7-Eleven’s near me, does not offer an extensive array of freshly made in store delicious Bentos, snacks, drinks and beer (all 3 floors worth) that this Maruman store offers.

konbini... contribute to local festivals

Yeah right. Whenever I've seen a combini during a festival, its trash bins are sealed up so people have no where to dispose of garbage.

often acting as community hubs

The mom and pop stores, which I remember seeing in the 80s, were real "community hubs." These are the stores that the combini have put out of business.

Convenience stores in Quebec are something people avoid 

The Circle-Ks in Japan and Vietnam are not like that at all.

wait until you leave japan. yes, everything is bigger, but not always better.

konbinis are marvels. the food is delivered late at night for the next day. the food at convenience stores outside japan sits around for days and days.

Of course Japanese convenience stores are way better. They are among the attractions why we travel to Japan.

Of course EVERYTHING about Japan is way better, until it isnt.

The underlying presumptions here are just the typical ethno-supremacist views that are often heard in Japan.

"Japanese know what's best!"

"Foreigners have no idea what they're doing! They'll surely mess it up."

"Japan for the Japanese"

Do they really think Couche-Tard (or any buyer) would be incentivized to devalue their investment by ruining what makes it good?

You are putting words into people's mouth and generalizing it into something bigger.

Of course Japanese convenience stores are way better. They are among the attractions why we travel to Japan.

The underlying presumptions here are just the typical ethno-supremacist views that are often heard in Japan.

"Japanese know what's best!"

"Foreigners have no idea what they're doing! They'll surely mess it up."

Do they really think Couche-Tard (or any buyer) would be incentivized to devalue their investment by ruining what makes it good?

It's quite probable that the 7-11 in Japan will be of a different kind than that in the west. If nothing else they will be cleaner. They are already far ahead of the western versions. Let's take a wait and see approach to this.

These fools don't know what they are getting into.

Convenience stores in Quebec are something people avoid like plaque. They are expensive, dirty and often attracts weird people. You go there only if there is no other option left.

Nothing Wrong with coming back Home.

I've been in Japan long enough to remember having to stock up on 3 to 4 days of foodstuffs at the end of every December, because no place selling fresh food would be open for the first three days of the new year. So at the very least I'm grateful for that. I'm also appreciative of the unsung workers -- many of whom are foreigners -- laboring each day starting from 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. at production lines in the prefectures on Tokyo's periphery, where they assemble tasty single servings of fresh foods and lunch boxes timed to arrive around 7:30 or 8:00 the same morning. It is a formidible industry of gigantic proportions.

GaijinjlandToday  06:39 pm JST

The gas station convenience store in Florida I went to 8 years ago was bigger and more convenient than anything I’ve seen in my 19 years in Japan.

What was the name of that store? How can you compare them as I'm absolutely certain that what a FL store offers is entirely different from any Konbini in Japan.

Circle-K buying 7-11 is like Wendys buying McDonalds. Not gonna happen.

Well if you want, dirty stores, bad service and bad food, then Couche-Tard is perfect!

In Quebec we had Couche-Tard and Provi-soir.

By far Provi-soir was superior, with in-store fresh baked bread, clean, nice food areas, etc... then Couche-Tard took over.

Gone was the baked bread, fresh food, in came the giant soda machines the giant slushy machines the dirty self-service areas and once they reached near monopoly the higher and higher prices.

The only thing convenient about seven & i that separates them from Lawson and Family Mart is their ATM banking network, not their shops. They are a bank first, convenience stores are not their primary business. Would the sale also include the primary banking part of their portfolio? Why is the media not touching on this?

Convenience stores are all essentially the same. There are a few but not many things that can be done at 7-Eleven but not at Lawson or Family Mart. If 7-Eleven stopped accepting something, I dunno, say local tax payments, another one would pick up the slack. People are not welded at the hip to the 7 and i Corporation.

with the stores nicknamed konbini often acting as community hubs that contribute to local festivals and help in disasters, he added.

This happens but is unremarkable and minimal in practice. It is inappropriate to single out convenience stores (especially not only 7-Eleven as it currently exists) as charitable in their communities or at time of disasters. Only someone who does not understand Japan could think this. A new 7-Eleven is likely to take trade away from any local mom and pop shops, local cafes, and local eateries, all run by members of that community.

Do they even know that 7/11 was from Texas!?

A somewhat melodramatic article. Should Couche Tard gain control the world won't end. The chain will operate as is. Worst case, there's other convenience stores to buy your onigiri at.

The gas station convenience store in Florida I went to 8 years ago was bigger and more convenient than anything I’ve seen in my 19 years in Japan. The food junk but for junk the sandwiches, bagels and paninis were much much better than anything 7-11 sells here

As well as stocking up on fresh food, toiletries and snacks, 7-Eleven customers in Japan can pay bills, print photos and send suitcases across the country, or just use the ATM.

Down here, it's "or just use the bathroom" and it's got a washlet too!