On the Menu | A Bathing Ape’s Nigo as FamilyMart creative director? I see a convenience store style war
With A Bathing Ape and Kenzo designer Nigo setting convenience store chain FamilyMart’s strategy, the ball is in 7-Eleven and Lawson’s court
By the time you read this column, I – like seemingly every other Hongkonger – will be swanning around Tokyo, most likely having visited my third konbini of the day.
FamilyMart, Lawson and 7-Eleven are the holy trinity of konbini (convenience store) chains that dominate in most of Japan.
To most Japanese citizens, they’re just a part of everyday life where you can buy snacks and drinks, pay your utility bills, send and collect parcels, nab concert tickets and print documents.
The konbini was also the setting of Sayuka Murata’s 2016 cult novel Convenience Store Woman, about a deeply introverted konbini cashier who struggles to live up to societal expectations – the monotony of her job a metaphor for being stuck in a rut.
