FamilyMart, UNY study convenience store merger

Just my opinion and unofficial top five convenience store rice balls:

Lawson - I just like their softer seaweed paper.

Family Mart - I don't know. Maybe it's just my neighborhood, but they restock plenty and the kind I like is always there and I think the rice tastes better.

Ministop - Ok, the rice balls are fine but I find good ice cream there and whats the difference between ice and rice? Only the letter R!

Seven Eleven - For me, their rice ball selection is always empty, even early morning. And for me, the seaweed paper is way too chewy.

Daily Yamazaki - Oh, man. I got sick once off of their rice balls. Maybe just a bad experience. I'll never shop there again, though.

harvey pekar, did you know convenience stores don't actually make their "bento" and "rice balls"? Sometimes they even have the same supplier...

Ha! I know, I know. Most ready made food, for people or for animals, is all from the same cookie cutter factory, but you can't deny the rice balls at each convenience store tastes different.

I'm not really particular to any store but I wish they wouldn't clump all of the same stores together. After all, there ain't much difference between the Lawson on one side of the street and the one on the other.

Better to live in Osaka and eat cheaply without depending on any of the convenience stores.

@therougou, the reason why konbini stores are spaced fairly closed together is for one reason: ease of deliveries to the store. That way, (for example Lawson), a single delivery truck can service multiple Lawson stores quickly in one trip.

In a way, I'm not surprised this is happening. 7-Eleven and Lawson are so dominant in Japan that Family Mart needs a partner to compete--and merging with Circle K/Sunkus is how they will do it.

Better to live in Osaka and eat cheaply without depending on any of the convenience stores.

But to begin with, convenience stores are not cheap anywhere. They are, well... convenient. If you want to eat cheaply, make your own food bought at the local supermarket. Simple like that.

Interesting. I am not going to bother reading their annual reports. What matters is, do either company have any real over seas presence? If those units/assets could be merged, that would be/could be beneficial. Otherwise this won't do much

7-11 Rules. Their noribento, oden, sandwiches, onigiri etc. tops ALL. & their shelves are usually pretty well stalked even after or during lunch hrs.