Abu Dhabi

hey everyone~!

there's a Japanese super convineince store called Famima that's starting to set up stores over here in the States. it has all the convineince store basics, except they're good quality and made in the store. they have cool vending machines, awesome magazine racks, Japanese goodies (of course), and a very good selection of lunches and drinks. the ones i've seen so far are in Glendale, CA, Los Angeles, CA, and Pasadena, CA... so i was wondering if they had popped up anywhere else. also, what do you think of Japanese stores like these coming State-side?


as a side note, Famima is #3 of the top supermarkets in Japan, the top two... uh, i'm not sure... though i do know that two other Japanese supermakets, Mitsuwa and Marukai, have shops in Los Angeles. and as another side note, their cup noodle selection is awesome! i finally got to have Curry Cup Ramen! yay~!

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tsurara

it's actually called "Family Mart" in Japan... but they were told that "Mart" sounds cheap in the US and wanted to appeal to an upscale yuppie crowd. So in a strange case of reverse translation... the perfectly good English "Family Mart" became the shortened katakana version "famima", which means nothing at all ^^;

I myself prefer Lawson. Mini Stop is also great. But on my island, we've only got Sankus (exactly 5 of them)

UNIQLO is also a Japanese clothing chain that's recently opened in New York City. And I hear that Yoshinoya has some locations on the West Coast.

Funny how only the incredibly cheap stores are exporting O-o;;

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Abu Dhabi

haha~! that's funny how they changed the name, but it has attracted the yuppie crowd! even the lame 12-year olds who buy the exotic Ramune~! but they have to change the names of lots of Japanese products when the come to the US. the had to change Calpis (supper yummy drink) to Calpico cuz the orginal name sounds like "Cow Piss" in English [tee hee].

do all the neighborhood kids hang out at those marts? or do they go other places? over here they dawdle around them in the afternoon, but lunch time is all about the business crowd... my Darling and i go there when we're suppose to be in school [but don't tell anyone].

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tsurara

uh... it's just a convenience store. In Japan, it's not unusual for there to be 2 or 3 different 24-hour convinience stores on every block... I don't think they're as amazing to us and they might seem overseas :P

Once you get over the shock of Japanese convenience stores actually being *gasp* convenient and selling socks, underwear, toothbrushes, hairspray, alcohol, toys, bananas, concert tickets and boxed lunches: you sort of resign yourself to their existance (and the fact that you'll be visiting one once or twice a week to buy something you've forgotten when nothing else is open or read magazines after you've been kicked out of kareoke at 5am until the train or ferry starts up)

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Abu Dhabi

^o^ haha~! that sounds like a life expirience!

yeah, convinience stores in the States are quite below par for the most part. so stores that actually deliver what they promise do cause a ruckus when they pop up! i love the Curry Bread there!

=_= it's a sad subsitute for Litte Tokyo in downtown LA, which is slowly being taken over by corporate suits and nasty smelling white children... the big stuff like Jungle Anime and the tourist traps are still up, but all the nice home-y places are closing down... it makes me very sad, mostly becuz that's where Soshi and i went for our very first official date (oh, so long ago...) so it has a very special place in my heart... but i digress~!

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Shinku no kage

Jeez, all in CA!? What a surprise...NOT!!

Anyways, I do recall going into a Family Mart on occasion while I lived in Japan. Not any different from a store here in the US but ofcourse as you mentioned Abu that they offer a variety of things here in the US.

Been to Lawson too...I loved them when they got the "Loppy", its like a instore computer that you can shop on. The feature that attracted me is the video game feature. They sold blank Super Famicon (JP version of the SNES) and Gameboy cartridges and you were able to "download" a variety of games onto it for a certain price (varies game to game). The cartridges cost around 3000yen+ (I think...hey, its been nearly 10yrs since I was in Japan ok!?) and the downloads cost anywhere from 500~1000yen+. (I think) They also handled special game pre-orders that other stores didnt. If I remember correctly you could only pick up a version of "Pokemon Blue" in the Lawson stores that you had to order through participating manga publsihers...again, I might be wrong. I was 11,12yrs old at the time so I didnt pay much attention to that kind of stuff.^^;

Oh, I also know of the Mitsuwa market place. Used to drive into the one in IL when I lived in WI...like a hour or so drive, ALWAYS worth it. (=w=)

This just shows how much the "convenience" stores in Japan are different from the ones than the ones in the US.

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Jepray

yeah, i have one here in Torrance, and lucky me its on my way to work...great obento box foods and my lifeline supply of Calpis and pocky sticks...but im surrounded by japanese markets here, heck i live across the street from a one, and Mitsuwa and Maruki are like 2-5miniutes away..i love this town...

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Don't Panic

Abu Dhabi

^_^ it's the same in LA~! the Marukai is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Mitsuwa~!

but what i thought was funny, is that Marukai actually moved to a different location IN THE SAME PLAZA! it's like... um, well abunch of steps from where it usually is! i guess they wanted a smaller building... but still, it's a lot more trendy now, so it attracts more then old ladies~!

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