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Comment by m463 | Hacker News Reader

A friend from Japan said 7-11 was an upscale store there. It features the top products in every category, and is maintained in an organized and clean japanese way.

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7-11 and convenience stores in general in Japan (the other big ones are Lawson and Family Mart) are vastly superior to American offerings. Almost every American who goes to Japan seems to comment on this.

It's not just Japan, it's largely Asia in general (e.g, Taiwanese 7-11's and Korean 7-11's are also so far above their US counterparts in terms of offerings/feel).

(A fun trivia fact is that like 7-11, Lawson also originally started in the USA. They only recently-ish returned stateside with locations in Hawaii (IIRC).)

I'd say in Korea 7-11 is the worst of the top 3 options though (GS25, CU and 7-11)

I mean, sure. I don't even think 7-11 is the top in Japan, but this is all opinion (ish).

My only real point was that they are categorically above their US counterparts, and that it's not just a Japan-specific thing.

I'd be surprised if there is any place where 7-11 is worse than in the US given how bad they are in here. Having lived most of my US time in PA I always either drove longer or waited for a Wawa to shop because all 7-11s were pure garbage.

The Asian equivalent of a trashy and cheap American 7/11 or Circle-K would be street vendors or a hyper-local general store/bodega with a bare minimum amount of goods.

In much of Asia (JP, SK, and TW excluded), convenience stores like 7-11 are similar luxury wise to what Target is in the US.

7-11 in Canada is just as bad.

I remember that lots of communities didn't want 7-11s in their area, because they showed up as red blotches in the crime maps.

With that in mind, I've never noticed a difference between the various brands of Japanese convenience stores. Lawson / Family Mart / 7/11 all seem the same to me. The only thing that ever stood out about 7/11 was that I could use their ATMs to take money out of my American bank account circa 2002 when I lived there. (The post office also worked.)

Heh, I used to joke that 7-11 was my bank of choice for this reason.

I mean Seven Bank is a major bank in Japan.

I know, I used to live there.

The joke was the ATM at every 7-11 with the line of foreigners every Friday night. ;P

Probably because most Americans live in lower density cities. Fresh food distribution is a lot harder in low density areas, and that is probably why 7-11 focuses on microwavable wings and hotdogs in the US.

A good NYC bodega is as stacked as a 7-11 in Tokyo. Really good fresh baked goods and they'll cook up anything you want for you too.

But 7-11s in Japan seem better than American convenience stores in similar density areas (from my experience)

This makes sense for rural and maybe exurban areas, but not for urban and most suburban areas.

My guess is that the lack of foot traffic changes the clientele in the states.

> A good NYC bodega is as stacked as a 7-11 in Tokyo.

No. And it isn't as clean, orderly and organized either.

Yup. The quality and price for food was shocking, especially compared to the US.

I feel like the parent company is going to have an interesting time of it when convenience store wages collide with stocking and food prep processes more complicated than "load hotdog roller then studiously ignore for the entirety of shift", especially in the markets that are currently served by 7-11.

Are you saying that low paid workers don’t have the cognitive capacity to do more than cook hot dogs?

I'm saying over the course of the last 5 years performance in the service industry writ large has gone off a cliff. Example: fast food restaurants routinely sport sanitation scores that would have cost the franchisee their restaurant a decade ago. Your guess is as good as mine as to root causes. Specific to 7-11 the franchise has a storied multi-decade history of seedy establishments and desperately sketchy food offerings. Where the franchise expects to recruit a new cohort of motivated individuals is something of a mystery.

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