A convenience store chain in Japan has opened outlets tailored for the elderly, featuring wider aisles, larger price labels and a chill out space.The model store on Awaji Island opened today.
Japanese convenience stores used to target customers in their 20s to 30s, but sales have been sluggish because of tougher competition and the rapidly aging society.
The company, Lawson, which hopes to cultivate a new customer base, plans to open more model stores across Japan by the autumn.
The Awaji store has a calming brown sign, a departure from Lawson's trademark blue, and features a rest space and an array of items targeting the elderly.
The rest space is equipped with tables and a liquid crystal display television, in addition to massage chairs, so that customers can freely eat, drink and have conversations while shopping.
During a pilot program last year in Kawanishi, steps such as installing blood pressure monitors and enlarging price labels turned out to be so popular that they led to a 50 per cent increase in store sales.
The Awaji Island store also has wider aisles than the regular Lawson stores to accommodate pensioner stopping abruptly , which would normally block the aisle.
3 comments:
Great - now maybe they'll stop shopping in Sheffield and blocking traffic.
My thoughts exactly !!
I can't wait till I'm an old fart ( don't say anything) I'm gonna buy 12 items and go to the 10 items or less counter and when it's my turn to pay take 3 days looking for my wallet,having handed over 12 money off coupons for each item , all the while mumbling about when I was a kid I'd never fucking get away with swearing .........
wait? (ha)
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