17th January 2023
A person going home after having finished working an evening shift in a convenience store in Japan would probably agree with the phrase ‘customer is king’1.
The range2 of services and products in the stores is amazing, while the prices are often almost the same as supermarket prices, plus the quality of the products is very high.
Rice balls and sandwiches are a staple3 food product but there are many other types of food products too – snacks, ready-to-eat お弁当（obentō) boxed lunches that often have to be heated by the store worker in a microwave oven, frozen food such as ice cream and there are many types of drinks.
When serving some of the hot food behind the counter the shop worker may feel the ‘customer is king’. The hot food has to be taken out of its heated display containers4 and it is usually put in small paper bags or plastic bowls by the shop worker and then given to the customer.
Hot food items include deep fried things, grilled chicken or meat filled steamed dumplings (buns) called 肉まん (nikuman).
Even おでん (oden) a kind of hot pot has to be got ready if the customer requests it.
Alcohol and cigarettes are also available. There are no religious5 rules stopping the sale of it in convenience stores in Japan. Not having strict religious rules also means the shops can be open whenever they want to be – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays.
All convenience stores sell basic necessities6 such as toilet paper or shampoo and they sell small amounts of things such as washing powder for washing your clothes. A customer can just head to7 the convenience store any time of day or night if they’ve forgotten to buy something. You can also buy stationery8 if you want and there are newspapers and magazines.
Modern convenience stores could be called ‘service*9 stores’. There are self-service coffee machines, ATM’s that seem to accept more cards than banks and photocopiers. You can do things like print pictures from your smartphone and print things from a USB memory stick using these copy machines.
Tickets for events or some travel tickets can be bought in convenience stores. Utility payments10 can be paid in covenience stores. The shop workers have to stamp the receipts for most payments. No rest for them.
Convenience stores can be post offices too – you can send parcels from them and you can have parcels delivered to them. Both tourists and locals11 can use them and this includes courier (delivery) service things, not just post office things. Sometimes you can just leave parcels in a depository box12 but often the shop worker has to be involved in receiving the thing you want sending.
If you need the toilet, convenience stores are there for you. Toilets are available for anyone to use – not just customers. Cleaning the toilets is all part of the shop worker’s job.
Running a shop13 is not easy. Most stores are part of a franchise. The owner or manager of the shop always has pressure to keep the shops well stocked14. It is difficult to make money. There are sometimes many convenience stores controlled by the same company in a small area and a lot of convenience stores come and go15.
And thinking about the part-time shop workers, they are usually paid close to the minimum wage16 for all their hard work. By the end of the shift the shop staff will certainly feel that they have met quite a few ‘customer kings’.
service* – the word ‘service’ has different meanings in English and one of the main meanings, which is different to the meaning above, is shown in example sentences below (service2). Often in Japan the word サービス (service) means a freebie – a free gift you get when you buy something or use something. In English the word ‘service’ does not have this meaning.
2. a ‘range (of) ~’ / to ‘range from ~’
<Example sentences>
■ There was a good range of rooms on the hotel’s website.
■ At the end of the speech she had to answer a range of questions from the reporters.
■ The volunteers ranged from age five to eight-five.
3. staple ~
<Example sentences>
■ His staple breakfast is just a coffee and cigarettes.
■ Rice has been the staple food in East Asia for many years.
■ Being busy is her staple excuse for not replying to emails.
9. service1 service2
<Example sentences>
service1
■ The hotel tickets and the airplane tickets are part of the basic service that the tour company provides.
■ You have to pay extra for the shuttle bus service from the airport.
service2
■ The service in the restaurant was very good.
■ What was the service like in Australia?
13. to ‘run a business / shop ~’
<Example sentences>
■ Would you like to run a business?
■ She owns three shops but doesn’t run them.
■ A young couple runs that new restaurant.
15. to ‘come and go’
<Example sentences>
■ Many shops have come and gone on this street in the last few years.
■ I don’t think it’s a very good company. The new workers just seem to come and go.
16. the minimum wage
<Example sentences>
■ Do you know what the minimum wage is in your country?
■ The minimum wage in New Zealand is about twenty-one dollars an hour.
(New Zealand Dollars)
■ Do the different convenience store chains have their own original products?
■ Have you been to a convenience store in another country?
■ I’ve heard about ~ in Japanese convenience stores.
■ Is it true that you can send things from convenience stores?
■ Do you ever buy hot food or drinks in convenience stores?
■ Do you have convenience stores in your country?
■ What do you think about the stores opening 24 hours?
■ The convenience stores have various services. For example ATMs, ~ .
■ Do people eat hotpots in your country and if they do what’s a staple one?
■ What’s the minimum wage where you come from?
- ‘customer is king’ means the customer is treated very well. The customer seems to have lots of power.
- in this sentence ‘range’ means the different types of things that are sold.
- ‘staple’ in this sentence means the standard or basic thing.
- a ‘container’ is something that something is in. A box or basket are examples of containers.
- ‘religious’ means relating to religion. Religion is when people believe in some gods or a god and change their behaviour because of this. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are examples of religions.
- a ‘necessity’ is something important that you need.
- ‘head to’ somewhere means to ‘go to’ somewhere.
- ‘stationery’ means things such as pens, erasers and notebooks – things you need for writing.
- in this sentence ‘service’ means providing things for people. For example in a town, things such as buses, trains, ATM’s and post offices are all services that are there for people to use.
- ‘utility payments’ means the money you have to pay for things such as the electricity, gas and water that you use every month.
- in this sentence a ‘local’ means someone who lives in the area.
- in this sentence a ‘depository box’ is somewhere safe where you leave something until it is collected later by the delivery service.
- ‘running a shop’ or business means to manage it. For example deciding what products to order, getting workers for the shop and dealing with banks are part of running a shop.
- in this sentence ‘stock’ means the things that are in the shop for the customer to buy. ‘Well stocked’ means there are always enough things in the shops.
- in this sentence ‘come and go’ means to appear and disappear quickly.
- ‘minimum wage’ is the lowest pay that someone can get for an hour’s work. A company has to pay the lowest wage or more than it.