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Best Conbini?

If I could only choose one conbini to go to for the rest of my time in Japan, it would be...

  • Seven Eleven

  • Lawson

  • FamilyMart

  • Other...

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requiemmorrow

requiemmorrow

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This seems to be a regular thread on sites like Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. But seriously, fuck all those peopleーthey aren't ascended perverts like the lot of us. So I wanna know, my fellow debauched and debased:
Which conbini chain tickles your fancy the most?

If you select "Other..." please indicate the name of the conbini. I did not include other rather sizeable chains like MiniStop, Daily Yamazaki, Newdays, as despite seeing them virtually everywhere in Kanto they just don't have the notoriety as the three listed.

And yes, I want to know why you don't think Lawson is the best. I want to know why you don't like the good'n'greasy chicken, the great drinks, and the elite "Natural Lawsons" out there with all sorts of fancy food selections.
 
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Seven Eleven in the dominant chain in my area, but we have a few Family Mart shops and 2 Lawson.
Lawson is furthest away from my place and there are two Seven Eleven shops before I could reach a Family Mart.
There's also a a Daily Yamazaki even beyond where the Lawson is, which I never go that far but pass by it alot when driving.

Family Mart gets a special plus because they let you pick your own Oden whereas Seven Eleven seems to think we're not smart enough to do it ourselves any more.

Another fucking irritating thing the amount of self-checkouts popping up -- not in my area, but where my office is, they have like 4 self-checkouts and 1 actual shop staff for manual checkout.
I'm just not a fan of the self-checkout and it seems like it's really taking over anywhere where it's possible. (My last trip to America, same thing is happening... places like Home Depot and grocery stores have more self-checkout than normal checkout. Inevitably, someone fucks something up and we all have to wait for some teenager to come along and fix the damn thing.)
 
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IchigoDave said:
And just for shits and giggles in the US I’m going with Wawa.
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See, there's Sheetz and Wawa which are sort of the same and Wawa usually wins hands-down.
Seems like every Sheetz I go into is disorganized and dirty. I feel like Wawa has a better selection (and their shop is usually bigger anyway).

Wawa coffee though. Damn. No competition there.
 
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Lawson has the best food and best beer selection imho. Their frozen ready meals are actually good.
 
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I kinda feel the same. 7-Eleven is convenient because you can easily withdraw money from foreign cards..... but I like the FamilyMarts house brands best. Design is also the most catchy.....
 
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IchigoDave said:
I’m going with Mini Stop. I like their seasonal desserts. Unfortunately there are none down here.
Click to expand...
really good "soft cream" if that matters
 
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I chose FM cause I pulled a cutie once from there
 
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7-11 had spicy chicken yoghurt sandwiches a few weeks ago, those were incredible but they're already gone I think? Which is crazy...I remember the first time I went to Japan and those shitty konbini sandwiches were great, then after a few more visits they were just meh but that spicy chicken one was amazing. Hate that they never just keep stuff.
 
MrDuBois said:
7-11 had spicy chicken yoghurt sandwiches a few weeks ago, those were incredible but they're already gone I think? Which is crazy...I remember the first time I went to Japan and those shitty konbini sandwiches were great, then after a few more visits they were just meh but that spicy chicken one was amazing. Hate that they never just keep stuff.
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Yes. I bought quite a few of those. They are gone now….
 
Something that came up on my Facebook memories today was a post from seven years ago where I was singing the praises of the 7-11 bacon and cheese onigiri
 
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Two decades ago, Family Mart was my go-to, and not just because it was right next to my bicycle parking at the station. Something for everyone. Always safe, nothing radical and no nasty surprises. Always had a good beer selection and great rockets and Roman Candles, too, for after the HUB Tower blackout drinking session.

These days (well, in 2020, anyway) I've been increasingly impressed by the quality and selection of food at 7-11. That's in Tokyo, mind you; the Osaka conbini fucking blows, no matter what company or brand it is. But really, the 7-11 near my hotel in Kanda has some fucking awesome pastas and bentos. On the mornings where I go running to the Budokan/Palace, make a longer route out of it and end up missing breakfast at the hotel, I'm actually quite pleased to instead grab something from 7-11 and eat in my room alone and not have to fight with two dozen Chinese tourists trying to shove their way to the front of the tempura line.

I've always found Lawson's depressing, not sure why. And then I refuse to enter any of the other chain stores. My favorite stores are actually the random ones at private train stations or at certain Shinkansen platforms. Greatest variations and interpretations of musubi, ever. I used to catch a private rail to work in Osaka, and the station shop had this 100 yen "kari kari bacon" musubi that I would've stuck my dick in if I could've. Greatest 300 yen lunch, ever, for a broke 25yo.
 
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There used to be a really amazing Natural Lawson where I worked before. Much better than anything Family Mart, 7-11, etc. could put out. However, I chose 7-11 because it's the most familiar for me. I like their bentos much better than Family Mart and Lawson.
 
Seven Eleven has the best food for sure. Their frozen pizza and pasta are head and shoulders above the rest. But their booze selection is terrible. They have improved it a bit lately with some barely drinkable Mondavi, but it is basically pointless to buy wine from Seven Eleven.
Lawson, on the other hand, has lots of branches with proper wine, and some even have wine stock from Seijo Ishii. But their food is shite.
So I picked Family Mart as the middle-of-the-road answer since they have half-decent food and half-decent wine.
I like the idea of Mini Stop but most of the branches around here are pretty grotty and my local one actually stinks of shit.
 
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Other. Asian Feeling is pretty convenient.
 
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