GaijinPot

November 21, 2009

Convenience Stores

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The Japanese are obsessed with convenience, so what better place to do their shopping than a convenience store? The Japanese love affair with the convenience store (or, konbini コンビニ) shows in the sheer quantity of them you see all across the country. Much like vending machines, these small stores seem to sprout up everywhere, from crowded urban nooks and crannies to the most random countryside landscape. Wherever you are in Japan, convenience is never far away.

There are over 40,000 convenience stores in Japan, and that number is constantly growing. Plus, there are a lot of players in the convenience game, meaning lots of competition and innovation, making these stores truly convenient.

Contents

Getting started

Most konbini are open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Often, your nearest convenience store is going to be your only (certainly most convenient) destination for the essentials. Look for brightly lit signs and an even brighter, flourescent-lit interior; you'll know you're in a konbini when you see the group of people perusing the magazine rack in front.

In most situations, it's almost impossible to not find a convenience store. Most of the time, you'll be eagerly searching for a way around them.

What can I buy?

Food

The primary product of the convenience store is food. Cheap, fast, and usually unhealthy, a konbini's shelves are stocked with the kinds of food that will get you through a night of drinking, or a day of working through lunch. Of course, you'll find snacks like chips, crackers, pastries, cookies, candy, and a plethora of your standard Japanese oddities. For something more substantial, go to the refrigerated sections for pre-packaged sushi, bento boxes, sandwiches, salads, fruit, etc. Ask the friendly staff to heat anything up for you in the standard-issue microwave behind the counter. There's also a hot case at the counter containing nikuman, fried chicken, and other crusty specialties. Hot oden is also a pretty standard offering at most konbini.

Beverages are the second most popular thing you'll find here, with an astounding selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Many of the drink companies seem to release their more experimental offerings only at convenience stores, so go here for your fix of Pepsi White or Ginger Draft beer. You can get everything here from milk to whiskey.

Essentials

Soap, shampoo, detergent, deodorant, and all the other things next to godliness are here. Also, you'll find some other items that you didn't realize were essential until now. Examples include ties, undershirts, CD-Rs, umbrellas, magazines, manga, and battery-powered cell phone chargers.

Many convenience stores also provide a restroom that is usually passably clean.

Services

You'll find an array of electronic kiosks at most stores, and these little touch-screen boxes offer a huge variety of services (if you can decipher the usually Japanese-only directions).

  • ATM: Virtually every convenience store offers one of some sort. Foreign ATM and credit cards are usually not accepted, except at 7-11.
  • Bill Payment: Pay your utility, cell phone and insurance bills - among others - from an easy-to-use menu.
  • Copy/Fax/Printing: Most locations have all these services. Look for the big printer.
  • Digital Prints: Insert your memory card into the terminal - it will probably accept whatever kind of card and format you're working with. Most of the time you can print your photos instantly; sometimes you'll have to come back to pick them up.
  • Ticket Reservations: Buy all your tickets for sport events, concerts, theme parks, highway buses and other travel.
  • Delivery Services: At many stores, you can drop off or pick up deliveries (takuhaibin), such as parcels or luggage. You can also buy post cards and stamps.

Expert Tips

  • Because of fierce competition, convenience stores often offer lower prices than supermarkets, especially on food and beverages.

Directory of convenience stores

See also

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Some content adapted from Wikipedia.org.