FamilyMart
FamilyMart (ファミリーマート Famirīmāto) TYO: 8028 is a convenience store franchise chain first opened in Japan on September 1, 1981. FamilyMart is Japan's third largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven and Lawson, and the largest chain store in South Korea. FamilyMart is owned and overseen by FamilyMart Company, Limited. The main shareholder is Itochu with a stake of 35.55%[1] Its headquarters is on the 17th floor of the Sunshine60 Building in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo.[2]
All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods such as basic grocery items, magazines, manga, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks like sake, condoms, nikuman, fried chicken, onigiri, and bento are available.
FamilyMart's official motto is "FamilyMart, Where You Are One of the Family."
[edit] Growth and development
FamilyMart also has franchise stores in Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, China (Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Suzhou), United States, Bangladesh and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City [3]). In addition, South Korean franchisees operate two stores in North Korea for South Korean visitors and workers in the Kaesong Industrial Region and Mount Kumgang Tourist Region. As of August 31, 2009, there are 15,240 stores worldwide, with fast growth in Asia outside of Japan. There are 7,604 stores in Japan, 4,621 stores in South Korea and 2,376 stores in Taiwan, 614 stores in Thailand, 303 stores in China and 16 stores in the USA.
Beginning in July 2005, FamilyMart began building and opening several stores in Los Angeles, California, the first of 250 planned for the United States by 2009. The North American brand name will be "Famima!!".
On January 30, 2006, FamilyMart began trials of an automatic cashier station at one of its Tokyo locations in cooperation with Itochu and Toshiba. Special tags on items in the customer's shopping basket are remotely and instantly sensed at the register.
In November 2010, FamilyMart announced it would freeze the number of locations in the United States to 10 stores due to the difficult economic environment. However, operations in certain parts of Asia, especially China, continue to expand.[4]
The highest located convenience store, a Family mart, is located in Taipei in the skyscraper Taipei 101. It gives employees a place to shop while working.
[edit] References
- ^ Change in Largest Shareholder of FamilyMart Co., Ltd, September 2009
- ^ "Company Information." FamilyMart. Retrieved on April 7, 2010.
- ^ http://vinafamilymart.com.vn/en/index.html
- ^ Topham, James (November 25, 2010). "FamilyMart to stay in US, China pace picks up, Reuters UK, November 25, 2010". http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTOE6AO05U20101125.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: FamilyMart |
- FamilyMart official homepage
- FamilyMart official homepage (Japanese)
- Famima USA homepage
- FamilyMart Korea homepage
- FamilyMart India homepage
- FamilyMart Taiwan homepage
- FamilyMart Thailand homepage
- FamilyMart China homepage
- News release (Japanese) on electronic tag trial
