FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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FamilyMart finds half of stores want shorter hours

FamilyMart finds half of stores want shorter hours

FamilyMart Co. said Friday its recent survey has found that almost half of its roughly 14,000 franchise convenience stores in Japan want to stop around-the-clock operations and shorten store hours.

 

 

Of the responding franchisees, 7,039 stores, or 48.3 percent, said that they want to consider adopting shorter hours. Within this group, 73.3 percent wanted to reduce hours every day, while 26.3 percent sought shorter hours one day a week.

On their reasons for seeking shorter hours, 47.6 percent cited a need to improve profitability of their late-night operations, while 46.4 percent pointed to labor shortages.

Meanwhile, 7,106 stores, or 48.8 percent of all respondents, said they do not want to shorten their operating hours, with a possible sales drop cited as a reason.

The number of stores seeking shorter hours was “larger than expected,” President Takashi Sawada told a news conference. “We’ll build a system to ensure profits at franchisees.”

FamilyMart will increase the number of stores experimenting with shorter hours from the current 24 to about 700 from October.

Based on these trials, the company will review its around-the-clock store hour policy in or after December.

In the experiments, which began in June, some outlets made labor cuts while others enjoyed sales growth. The company will conduct further analysis because the impact of shorter hours varies depending on regional and other factors.

The survey was conducted from June 7 to 21. Responses came from 98.1 percent of all stores contacted.

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