FamilyMart Co., Ltd. is a Japanese convenience storefranchise chain. FamilyMart is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. FamilyMart is subsidiary of FamilyMart UNY Holdings, Ltd. which also owns supermarket chain Uny. The main shareholder is Itochu with a stake of 37.66%. Its headquarters is on the 17th floor of the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. There are some stores in Japan with the name Circle K Sunkus under the operation of FamilyMart. All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods such as basic grocery items, magazines, manga, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks like sake, nikuman, fried chicken, onigiri, and bento are available. FamilyMart is known for its distinctive doorbell melody, which is played upon entering the store. This melody is referred to as Melody Chime No.1 – Daiseikyou, and was originally developed by Yasuhi Inada in 1978. In South Korea the original stores are now called CU and operated separately by BGF Retail. It used to be the largest chain store in South Korea.
Growth and development
The first FamilyMart opened in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in 1973. The store kept growing, opening 500 stores every 3 years. In 2002, it was listed as a company. FamilyMart currently has franchise stores in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. In October 2013, FamilyMart opened its 10,000th store in Japan. Operations in certain parts of Asia, especially China, continue to expand. As of January 2018, there are 24,243 stores worldwide, with fast growth in Asia outside Japan. There are 17,409 stores in Japan, 3,165 stores in Taiwan, 2,177 stores in China, 1,138 stores in Thailand, 66 stores in the Philippines, 165 stores in Vietnam, 87 stores in Indonesia, and 70 stores in Malaysia. FamilyMart has stores located in all prefectures of Japan.
International operations
China
FamilyMart opened its first store in Shanghai, China in 2004. Since then, the chain has expanded to Guangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou. Other stores are in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuxi, Beijing and Dongguan. By May 2019, there are more than 1430 FamilyMart stores in mainland China.
Malaysia
On 11 November 2016 at 11am, FamilyMart opened its first Malaysia's store at Wisma Lim Foo Yong in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. It has become popular because it is the first convenience store selling soft serve ice cream and fresh snacks. FamilyMart Malaysia are owned by Maxincome Resources Sdn Bhd which is one of QL Resources Bhd subsidiary. They had a 20-year agreement with FamilyMart Co Ltd. All of FamilyMart Malaysia's food service and ready-to-eat selections are made with halal ingredients only. The service is currently in the midst of the halal application process with JAKIM. The products available in FamilyMart that are Halal certified will carry the Halal logo on its packaging. For products that are imported from Japan, Korea or Taiwan, the product ingredients will be vetted to ensure that no haram ingredients such as pork, lard or alcoholic substance were used. Customers will be able to read the ingredients information on the food or drinks packaging before purchase to ensure hassle-free consuming. In April 2019, FamilyMart Malaysia was one of the F&B outlets that was chosen by PLUS Malaysia Berhad, the largest expressway in Malaysia to set up their stores in one of the R&R areas. As of 30 July 2020, there are 200 stores nationwide, marking the 200th store milestone on the first store in Pulau Pinang after its 100th store in Melaka. By 2025, there will be 1000 stores nationwide, bringing the "konbini" concept to Malaysia.
Philippines
FamilyMart was launched in the Philippines on April 7, 2013 under the ownership of Ayala Corporation, Rustan's Group and Itochu. Its first Philippine branch, opened on April 22, 2013, is located at the Glorietta 3 mall in Makati. In 2018, Davao-based conglomerate Udenna Corporation acquired the franchise from the triumvirate. There are now 66 stores in the Philippines.
Taiwan
In May 2012, there were around 9,255 convenience stores in Taiwan, which was equivalent of one store per 2,500 people. This is the highest number per capita in the world, and the number is still rising. 7-Eleven is the most popular convenience store in Taiwan, while FamilyMart is the second. FamilyMart sued to end its partnership with Ting Hsin in 2019, which would end a 15-year joint venture. Ting Hsin International Group was the top seller of instant noodles in the world in 2017, with a 15% share of the market. As of January 2018, FamilyMart has a total of 3,165 stores in Taiwan, which accepts the highest bill payments of convenience stores in Taiwan, with over 100 million bills per year.
Vietnam
FamilyMart opened its first store in Vietnam in 2009, starting in Ho Chi Minh City. Initially the stores were operated in a joint venture with Vietnamese distributor Phu Thai Group, after 2013, both companies went their own way, and Phu Thai Group took over a number of FamilyMart stores and started operating them under its own brand B's Mart. As of 2017, FamilyMart operated 130 stores in Ho Chi Minh City.
Former
Korea
At the end of May 2012, the number of operating FamilyMart stores had reached 7,271. In June 2012, FamilyMart of South Korea, which was being run by FamilyMart Corporation and BGF Retail, was renamed and converted to 'CU' under ownership of BGF Retail after an order coming from BGF Retail that required FamilyMart to leave the South Korean market, and to cease operations there. At the end of March 2014, FamilyMart withdrew from the South Korean market completely. The stores are now called CU. The motto is "Convenience for you". In addition, South Korean franchisees had operated a number of stores at Kaesong Industrial Region and Mount Kumgang Tourist Region in North Korea for South Korean visitors and workers, all the stores are now closed.
United States
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 is "Famima!!". 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. In October 2015, FamilyMart closed all eight of its Famima!! convenience stores in the United States and liquidated Famima Corp. USA, withdrawing from the United States.
Solar power
FamilyMart has had solar power at some of its stores since at least 2004. It aims to increase its solar energy footprint in the future. There are around 45,000 convenience stores in Japan. Lawson run just under 10,000, a market share just behind 7-Eleven, who have about 13,000 stores. Currently, only 20 of Lawson's stores are equipped with solar equipment, but they plan to expand that number ahead of the 1 July 2012 introduction of a "feed-in tariff system", which the government and electricity companies say guarantees purchases of electricity from renewable sources such as solar or wind generators. Surplus power can be sold only after in-store lighting and air-conditioning have been powered.
Automatic cashiers
On 30 January 2006, FamilyMart began trials of an automatic cashier station at one of its Tokyo stores in cooperation with Itochu and Toshiba. Special tags on items in the customer's shopping basket are remotely and instantly sensed at the register.
Controversy
Labor Commission case by franchise owners
Seventeen convenience store owners of FamilyMart stores formed a union and requested collective bargaining with the company. They were refused and sued. In April 2015 the Central Labor Commission of Japan found that FamilyMart had violated the Trade Union Law by refusing to negotiate with the union. The franchise owners were recognized as employees under the trade union law, and the company was ordered to pledge to the union that it would not repeat the offence.
Rat infestation incident
In August 2019, footage emerged of as many as six rats scurrying through a FamilyMart store in Shibuya, near sushi displays and down aisles. FamilyMart responded by shutting the store, in order to investigate the cause of the problem, and apologised if the "unsanitary" footage had made customers feel "uneasy".
