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There’s a lot of joy to be found in just randomly browsing through a Japanese convenience store, where the high-quality and uniqueness of the ever-changing lineup of food and drinks means there’s always a tasty surprise or two waiting for you. And as you round one aisle of shelves, you might have yet another surprise when you see tables or a counter with chairs. For example, here’s one inside a branch of FamilyMart, one of Japan’s largest convenience store chains.
Called eat-in corners or eat-in spaces, they’re a testament to the high quality of Japanese convenience store offerings, showing that the food and drink is good enough to warrant sitting down and enjoying like you’re at a mini cafe. However, the eat-in space’s days are now numbered at FamilyMart, who says they’re planning to get rid of them at branches nationwide.
FamilyMart made a big push to add eat-in spaces to its shops in 2017, and currently you can find them in about 7,000 branches. However, FamilyMart has announced that it will be converting the eat-in areas to sales floor space as part of its efforts to “meet diversifying customer needs.”
Now, as a retail business, when FamilyMart says it wants to more effectively “meet customer needs,” that effectively means they want to increase sales, and in turn profits. According to FamilyMart, the company has observed reduced usage of its eat-in spaces since the coronavirus pandemic, and feels that their floor space could be better used for stocking items from its clothing line, which it’s seeing expanding demand for, as well as non-food-and-drink daily essentials such as toilet paper and detergent.
▼ A before/after concept image from FamilyMart
Something FamilyMart doesn’t mention in its announcement, but which may be playing a part in lower usage of its stores’ eat-in spaces, is the way convenience store purchases are taxed. When you buy food or drinks at a FamilyMart with an eat-in space, the clerk will often ask if you’re purchasing it to eat there or to take home. This isn’t because FamilyMart is so fancy as to provide table service for its eat-in customers, though. It’s because sales tax in Japan for groceries and take-out food and drink items is 8 percent, but sales tax for food and drink consumed in a restaurant is 10 percent.
In the eyes of the law, convenience store eat-in corners count as “restaurants” and carry the higher tax rate, the cost of which convenience stores pass on to their customers. In other words, if you’re buying something at FamilyMart, it’s more expensive if you eat or drink it in-store, and less expensive if you instead have it back at your home or office, in the park, or even in the parking lot.
This wasn’t always the case, though. Both eat-in and take-out items were taxed at an identical 8 percent until October of 2019, and so reduced use of FamilyMart’s eat-in spaces might not be so much a case of people having gotten used to not eating in-store during the pandemic as it is a case of customers saying “Yeah, I’d rather pay the cheaper of the two prices,” especially as consumer prices continue to rise and outpace income growth in Japan.
FamilyMart says that some stores might retain their eat-in spaces, but the push to convert them to sales spaces will be taking place across the entire chain, with 2,000 eat-in spaces to disappear by the end of this year.
Source: Family Mart, IT Media via Yahoo! Japan News
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/10/04/japanese-convenience-store-family-mart-announces-abolishment-of-eat-in-spaces/
32 Comments
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JeffLee
No surprise. The table area in my local FamilyMart is an empty, soulless place. I don't think the guy behind the counter has ever asked me if I'm having my coffee and shoe-cream in or takeout, so it's not like the staff care very much, either.
dagon
That's a shame because they were a convenient place to charge a phone or laptop, do some work and have a snack or drink.
Look for SoraNews for the truth instead of all the economic ministry/Kyodo article touting wage growth.
リッチ
Lowering service is a standard in Japan now.
CrashTestDummy
I don't eat inside convenient stores often with a few rare exceptions. However, a couple of times they were greatly appreciated when it was raining and could sit for a brief moment and eat some food and drink some coffee inside.
But there are still very few I have seen with seating, so it likely won't be noticed much by me.
SwissToni
Try not to disrespect the delicacy, it’s choux…Choux Cream. Shoe cream is a whole other, deeply unpalatable product.
tamanegi
Bad news for some of the old chuhai and cup sake oyajis in my neighborhood.
WoodyLee
About 30 years behind convenience store in Europe, Canada and the U.S.. they even have a car wash, an oil change, a coffee shop, and a bath/shower in you wish. all in one stop.
Gaijinjland
A family mart once called the cops on me because I bought a beer and then sat down and opened it and proceeded to drink it. Really unnecessary. I suspect a lot of people stopped using the spaces when they started putting tape over the outlets to prevent people from charging their laptops and phones. Kind of useless.
kohakuebisu
Around me, almost everyone goes to the convenience store by car, so they can just eat the food in their car. I used the spaces a few times in the past though when I was out cycling though.
I bet these are a nightmare for staff though if someone says they are taking food out but then sit in the space without having paid the correct tax. The space in the one I went to a few times was around the corner away from the other shelves, so my guess is that it will stay as seats.
geronimo2006
A bit inconvenient. I wonder if the toilets will go next.
Norm
I have really enjoyed using these counters after long walks in the cold, early morning in winter and in the scorching morning sun in summer. I buy something to drink and am able to enjoy the seat and the free heating or air conditioning.
That’s been my experience, too. I don’t mind it being deserted at all — that’s a plus.
But most of the staff behind the counter basically say (in Japanese) “Forget about it” when I mention the higher consumption tax.
Still, it’s great place to have something to drink and either warm up in winter or cool down in summer.
Speed
I liked it when they added seating counters and charging stations. It felt like they were modernizing heading into the future and it was and is pretty convenient. I like sitting at the counter window with my cup of coffee and people watching.
wallace
I find them useful to hope in for a sandwich and coffee when I'm visiting my lawyer or a client.
factchecker
Good! There's loiterers everywhere else here, a convenience store is no place to encourage more of this nonsense.
Ass
God damn. They shut it down before I ever got to enjoy the magic
Deluded Brian
Brilliantly hilarious.
Fighto!
The reality is real estate rental - even small bits like these areas - costs money. It needs to pay for itself. And I'd hazard a guess that people drinking a 100-yen coffee and eating a 100-yen onigiri taking up real estate for 20 mins, is not justifying the rent on the space.
The convenience store can make more money using the space selling things, that's the harsh truth.
kurisupisu
There are plenty of places to buy fresh and cheaper food in Japan.
I only use conbinis for specific tasks or use their parking to buy a few things as I’m often too lazy to go to a larger store and walk more.
For most tourists the impression is that small chain stores are the ultimate but they really aren’t.
Japantime
Most of the time, people say the item is take out and end up sitting down and eating it in the store. The same as paying for a small size coffee and pressing the large size button. No one notices it.
MC
Great place to top off my Tiger carbonated drinking bottle with Strong Zero
Sven Asai
Times have dramatically changed, from once a service paradise to nowadays barely hidden customer hate. Instead of being proud to offer this service to customers, it could now be interpreted as customer harassment if you wish to eat or drink the goods you purchased like a civilized human being, inside the store and sitting at a table, but now develop some complaining feelings when banned from the store and have to eat outside, standing or in the parking lot, treated like an unwanted street dog. I understand problems like lacking staff or being forced to make some cost considerations in a very competitive sector, but clearly and in general, means not unique or limited to convenience stores. many current developments go very far beyond that and shouldn't in sum anymore being accepted by us customers.
Bret T
As a Gajin I hate to see them go. I always attributed combini providing these seats as a part of the cultural politeness of Japan. I knew it was costing the store some lost revenue to let someone sit for a few minutes and relax.
CS
TaiwanIsNotChina
So what is the cultural practice to eat your food and drink, then, if you don't have anywhere else to go? Just stand outside the door?
travelbangaijin
I didn't know these tables were for eating in - I use to sit here and read "the magazines" if you know what I mean.
Burning Bush
The good news is it's only FamilyMart that are closing their spaces. The 7 11 near my place of employment has one used mostly by people passing through by car it seems
Bring it home, go to the park, eat in work I've seen people eat their goods out side.
Why not get lawyers to visit your home? That's what we do with the banks and lawyers we deal with, and is standard part of their service here in Japan.
nandakandamanda
This problem of space seems to be more acute in the bigger cities, especially that tired and squished old Tokyo.
I found them useful too. Besides the iced coffee in summer or hot drink in winter, a nice break on my walk, I often use that space for sorting paperwork while photocopying. My custom will not make or break them, sure, but I think I will go there even less from now on if they remove that breathing space.
bo
I try to avoid them ,they really are overpriced boring dumps .When I street drink in Shibuya I have no choice , but would much rather buy from a machine .Can't stand the staff and hate having to touch the screen to verify I am over 20
Blacklabel
So back to standing right outside to eat a snack and drink an alcoholic beverage. They won’t like that either.
Kaowaiinekochanknaw
Just grab your coffee or onigiri and walk the streets while eating it.
Or choose one of the numerous outdoor benches or picnic tables dotted around the city to eat your lunch.
Or sit on the sidewalk of some nearby steps or plant pots around the stations.
The locals will appreciate it.
Tourists will love the new found attention too.