Upscale Family Mart Hitting the US?
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/features/news/20060220p2g00m0fe002000c.html
Sounds weird. Why don't they just offer what everyone else is offering (for the most part), thereby bringing in the average customer, and adding those speciality items to attract the kind of customer who will enjoy those items (Japanese nationals, Japanophiles, the plain curious)? Seems to me that would be a better strategy that trying to be "upscale". Sounds snobbish. Or like they are trying to outprice most customers and cater only to people who are used to paying high prices for things (aka Japanese nationals in the US). Maybe I'm reading too much into this article, but it sounds like a very Japanese thing to do.
Sounds weird. Why don't they just offer what everyone else is offering (for the most part), thereby bringing in the average customer, and adding those speciality items to attract the kind of customer who will enjoy those items (Japanese nationals, Japanophiles, the plain curious)? Seems to me that would be a better strategy that trying to be "upscale". Sounds snobbish. Or like they are trying to outprice most customers and cater only to people who are used to paying high prices for things (aka Japanese nationals in the US). Maybe I'm reading too much into this article, but it sounds like a very Japanese thing to do.