FamilyMart

FamilyMart Co., Ltd.
株式会社ファミリーマート

Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Famirīmāto
Type	KK
Traded as	TYO: 8028
Industry	Convenience stores
Founded	September 1973 (1973-09) in Sayama, Japan (incorporated September 1, 1981 (1981-09-01))
Founder	Seiyu Group
Headquarters	Toshima, Tokyo, Japan
Number of locations	17,065[1] (2015)
Areas served	Japan Taiwan China Philippines Thailand Vietnam Indonesia Malaysia Korea (Kaesong Industrial Region)
Key people	Isamu Nakayama (President)
Revenue	JPY 374.4 bn[2] (2014)
Operating income	JPY 40.4 bn (2014)
Profit	JPY 25.6 bn (2014)
Total assets	JPY 666.2 bn (2015)
Total equity	JPY 284.8 bn (2015)
Number of employees	3,896[3] (2015)
Parent	FamilyMart Uny Holdings Ltd. (major owner: Itochu (35.84%)[4])
Subsidiaries	Famima!!
Website	www.family.co.jp (in Japanese)

FamilyMart (ファミリーマート, Famirīmāto) is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain. FamilyMart is Japan's 2nd largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven. In South Korea the stores are now called CU (under ownership of BGF Retail, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea) and used to be the largest chain store in South Korea.

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%.^[5] Its headquarters is on the 17th floor of the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo.^[6]

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.

Growth and development

FamilyMart in Tokyo, Japan

FamilyMart in Kansai University, Japan

The first FamilyMart opened in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture in 1973.^[7]

FamilyMart has franchise stores in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea (Now called "CU" under BGF Retail), Indonesia, Taiwan, China (Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Suzhou), the United States, and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City).^[8] 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 31 August 2009, there were 22,444 stores worldwide, with fast growth in Asia outside Japan. There were 9,641 stores in Japan, 7,964 stores in South Korea ("CU" under BGF Retail), 2,952 stores in Taiwan, 1,306 stores in China, 1,193 stores in Thailand, 91 stores in the Philippines, 71 stores in Vietnam, 63 stores in Indonesia, and 9 stores in the USA.

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.^[9]

In October 2013, FamilyMart opened its 10,000th store in Japan.^[7][10]

Overseas operations

FamilyMart in Kaesong, North Korea

A FamilyMart store at Beach Road, Pattaya in Thailand

South Korea (CU)

In June 2012, FamilyMart of South Korea, which was being run by FamilyMart Corporation and BGF Retail, was renamed "CU" (under ownership of BGF Retail, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea) after an order coming from BGF Retail that required FamilyMart to leave the South Korean market, and to cease operations there. However, FamilyMart has considered a return to the South Korean market in the future.^[11]

CU (former South Korean FamilyMart stores under ownership of BGF Retail) had a total of 7,950 stores nationwide in 2013.^[12] The motto is "Convenience for you".

Philippines

FamilyMart was launched in the Philippines on April 7, 2013^[13] under the ownership of Ayala Corporation, Rustan's Group and Itochu.^[14][15][16] Its first Philippine branch, opened on April 22, 2013, is located at the Glorietta 3 mall in Makati.

Taiwan

A Taiwan FamilyMart is on the right, while another convenience store is right across the street.

As of May 2012, there were around 9,255 convenience stores in Taiwan, which is 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. In 2012, FamilyMart has a total of 2,851 stores in Taiwan, which accepts the highest bill payments of convenience stores in Taiwan, with over 100 million bills per year.^[17]

United States (Famima!!)

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!!".

Only 9 stores operated at the peak of business, and the company withdrew from the US market in 2015, shuttering the remaining 8 open stores.^[18]

Malaysia

Beginning in November 2016, FamilyMart opened its first Malaysia's store at Kuala Lumpur, and it has become popular because it is the first convenient store selling soft serve ice cream and fresh snacks.^[19] As of August 2017, there was 17 FamilyMart store in Malaysia, including stores in Sunway Velocity, MyTown(IKEA Cheras), NU Sentral, Amcorp Mall, Mid Valley Megamall and 10 other locations.^[20] By 2025, there will be 1000 stores nationwide, bringing the "konbini" concept to Malaysia.^[21]

Solar power

FamilyMart has had solar power at some of its stores since at least 2004.^[22] 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.^[23]

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.

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 to repeat the offence.^[24][25]

See also

• List of convenience stores
• Companies portal
• Tokyo portal

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FamilyMart.

• Official website (in Japanese)