MCLC: Taiwan convenience stores do it all

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: KevinGLawrence <kglnyc at gmail.com>
Subject: Taiwan convenience stores do it all
***********************************************************

Well if this doesn’t make someone miss Taiwan, maybe only 鹵味 at a night
market will…. 

(also, there is an online video about the article showing a snippet of
Open-Chan’s adventures through space…)

Kevin 

==========================================================

Source: WSJ (5/16/14):
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230451870457952037124390
3680?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj

How Convenient: In Taiwan, the 24/7 Store Does It All
Chains Offer Dinner Out, Dry Cleaning, Suckling Pig To-Go; Mascot Begets a
Musical
By Eva Dou and Jenny W. Hsu

TAIPEI—Yata Wang visits a convenience store each day for breakfast. He
returns after lunch for some sweets. Then afternoon tea. Then a late-night
snack.

"Convenience stores are like braised pork rice," said Mr. Wang, a Taipei
art vendor. "They are everywhere in Taiwan but you still keep longing for
their flavor."

Such ardent, high-frequency patronage is the norm here—and no wonder.
Taiwan's convenience stores are some of the most convenient in the world.

Beyond the staple snacks, they provide a ballooning array of services
including dry cleaning, train and concert ticket reservations, traffic
fine and utility payment, hot sit-down meals, mail drop-off and book
pickup. They also deliver everything from refrigerators to multicourse
banquets that feature fatty pork stacked in a pile, half a dozen varieties
of chicken feet and a nearly 8-pound suckling pig that rotates on a
battery-powered spit.

Convenience stores jostle shoulder to shoulder in urban areas like Taipei.
But when you climb Alishan Mountain or fly to the remote Taiwanese islands
of Penghu, you'll find at least a few of the gleaming storefronts that
greet you with a dual assault of a singsong electronic door chime and
clerks repeating, "Huanying guanglin, huanying guanglin" ("welcome,
welcome") each time a foot crosses the threshold.

The profusion of convenience stores in Taiwan's landscape has resulted in
a deep fervor among the populace. So much so that hundreds of people paid
up to $46 a seat at a Taipei theater this year to see a musical about
7-Eleven Taiwan's mascot, Open-Chan (His name derives from 7-Eleven's
24-hour operation).

The company trumpets Open-Chan, an extraterrestrial dog from the planet
Open, as "the first cartoon spokesperson in the convenience retailing
industry of Taiwan." He also has a music album, shopping mall and theme
park to his name.

The 7-Eleven mascot recently added musicals to his repertoire with "The
Great Adventure of the Magical Planet." In the show, Open-Chan sashays
with his sidekicks to lyrics such as, "The magic words are Open, Open,
Open."

"I just love Open-Chan so much," said Huang Shulin, a Taipei teacher, at
one of the shows. "I collect everything with his face on it. Dolls. Pens."

While retailer freebies are often regarded as low-grade throwaways, those
from Taiwan's convenience stores have ascended to higher echelons of
prestige.

On a Friday evening, Taipei businessman Richard Kao bought armloads of
food at a 7-Eleven to collect enough stickers to earn a limited-edition
alarm clock prize.

"I want 20 of the clocks," Mr. Kao told the clerk. "I will buy as much
stuff as needed to get them."

Mr. Kao said he planned to give the clocks as gifts to his business
clients.

"This is a meaningful gift," he said. "If you are willing to collect
convenience store stickers for someone, it shows you really care."

Why Taiwan's people like convenience stores so much remains in dispute.
One argument says the fascination dates back to the Taiwanese general
store, a fixture of life before the island became a modern economic
powerhouse. Others say it comes from the busy Taiwanese lifestyle, giving
rise to workaholic lonely hearts who don't know how to cook.

"A lot of our customers are single working women," said Wang Fei-Chen,
7-Eleven Taiwan's chief merchandiser in the fresh food department.

Yen-Fen Tseng, a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University,
said that convenience stores are so popular in Taiwan because they have
ingrained themselves as a part of the communities in each neighborhood.

"Convenience stores function as a community entrance," she said. "They are
comparable to the village temple in days of yore."

She adds that aversion to walking also may play a role as people want
everything they need within a few footsteps. "People really hate walking
here."

Whatever the reason, they are a cultural fixture that resonates. A Taiwan
Family Mart video of elementary school children pretending to work as
convenience store clerks quickly went viral in March, racking up more than
2.5 million views.

Taiwan's major convenience store chains have also added seating areas in
recent years to try to keep their customers around longer. This has
resulted in them becoming popular hangouts, for everyone from suited
businesspeople conducting meetings, to students siphoning off the free
Wi-Fi to watch soap operas, to late night clubbers taking a breather to
find their second wind. Stores are open 24 hours every day.

"Unlike coffee shops, they won't shoo you away if you stay too long," said
Lin May-jun, an insurance saleswoman who regularly entertains potential
customers at a 7-Eleven in Taipei.

With the passion for convenience stores in Taiwan, one might think it is
easy enough to do business. But insiders say competition is cutthroat,
margins are thin and innovations are copied rapidly.

"We aren't Apple, we can't patent our ideas," said Alex Chao, an
administrative manager of Taiwan's third-largest convenience-store chain,
Hi-Life. "We came up with the idea of attaching a plastic lid to the top
of the pot of guandongzhu, (a popular snack of bite-sized meats and
vegetables simmering in hot broth) to keep out the dust. Now everyone has
lids."

There is also a constant battle of keeping up with the Joneses in terms of
offerings and convenience. When 7-Eleven Taiwan announced it would sell
customized flat-screen TVs last year, Family Mart quickly launched its own
sets.

"We are also making inquiries into TVs," said Mr. Chao, of Hi-Life.

While Taiwan's convenience stores are always getting more convenient,
there are limits.

"At one point, we offered custom-made breakfast sandwiches cooked on the
spot," said Mr. Chao. "But we had to stop that. People liked them so much
that the lines got really long. And then it was no longer convenient."