THE UPSCALING OF THE CONVENIENCE STORE
Famima has landed in the US. The upscale Japanese mini-market chain (with 6,000 outlets in Japan and an additional 5,500 branches throughout Asia) has been opening stores in SoCal. They hope to beat-out market-dominating 7-11 (another Japanese owned company) by making the c-store experience a little healthier and more sophisticated. Seaweed-wrapped rice crackers instead of potato chips dominate the snack aisle.

This is reflective of a national c-store trend toward more upscale marketing and an emphasis on healthier foods. Many are taking a stab at luring Starbucks customers with additional coffee choices. For example, the Circle K in Turlock, which looks slightly more like a coffee-bar than it did six months ago, must have 15 different varieties of hot coffee. However, I'm not yet seeing any Japanese comic books or sushi in the Canadian owned Circle Ks.

By offering entrees such as pork medallions with steamed vegetables and salmon eggs over rice, Famima hopes to attract affluent customers who don't have time to prepare meals.

It will be interesting to see if the trend toward attracting healthier customers will edge out the vice products that have been the mainstay of the American mini-mart. The people waiting in line to pay for their sushi aren't going to enjoy standing there next to the guy buying a 10 a.m. six-pack, cigarettes, and blowing his child support money on lottery tickets.

As the convenience store goes -- so goes the country.