Convenience Stores

There are many 7-11 stores in Taiwan. Of course, 7-11 is not the only convenience store in Taiwan, but it is the most common.

There are three other main convenience stores namely Fu Ke Duo, Quan Jia, and Lai Er Fu. I have even seen an 8-12!

7-11 started in the USA many years ago, not surprisingly as a shop which was open from 7am until 11pm. But the 7-11 we all know is owned by a Japanese company which rescued the American store from bankruptcy in 1980, when it ran into financial difficulties. Initially the American version was just a store selling food and some toiletries.

How many 7-11 stores are there in Taiwan? The answer is almost five thousand. There seems to be that many in Taipei alone! What is the furthest distance between from one 7-11 store to the next one? I don’t know the answer to that, but I don’t think it is very far, maybe 10 kilometers. What do you think?

Coming from the United Kingdom, it is amazing to me what I can do in a 7-11 and other convenience stores. Apart from buying snacks and drinks and cigarettes, which is what we can do in a 'corner shop' in my country, we can also buy other food, such as a bottle of soy sauce, and strong alcohol such as whisky, which I don't think is permissible in my country. For this you would have to go to a shop which has a license to sell this alcohol. Also we can photocopy, pay bills, ….?

In fact, it is only in the last few years that pubs and bars in the UK have been allowed to remain open 24 hours a day. In the past they had to close at 11p.m., and even if a supermarket were open beyond 11 p.m. (which has only happened recently) they were not allowed to sell alcohol after 11 p.m. Once I did need to buy some alcohol close to 11p.m., but I wasn't able to. I told the checkout girl that according to my watch, it was a minute before 11:00, but she replied that the clock on the till said that it was after 11:00, and that the barcode knew that the produce was alcohol, and computer in the till refused to sell me the alcohol.

Whether you like them or not, convenience stores are very convenient.

圖片來源: www.aestheticeconomy.com/blog/?p=158