Alas, the WaWa did not reach north to Boston and I would long for it through my four years at school…until on a trip to St. Louis I was introduced to QuikTrip and a battle soon ensued! Best mini-mart? Who could believe more machine coffee options could possibly exist? And beer sold at a minimart!?!?!
My recent trip to Japan led to the discovery of AMPM and FamilyMart and the quest for world-wide mini mart domination is back on! Soft Serve ice-cream. Rice triangles. More canned drink options than imaginable. Crocksocks for your warm canned drinks. Pocky.
To decide a winner, I’ve created a Pro/Con list. Unfortunately, this battle may never be solved. All thoughts are appreciated!
| WaWa | QuikTrip | FamilyMart |
|---|---|---|
| Hot pretzels | Hot Drinks | Canned drinks |
| WaWa brand- ice cream! | Hot Drinks | Rice triangles |
| Mugs | Accents of employees | Soft serve machine |
| Working ATM | Working ATM | Pocky |
| Hot drinks | Beer | Beer & Sake individual size |
| Candy under $0.25 | ... | Surprise items (chocolate may be red bean!) |
| ... | ... | Soft Serve flavors: green tea and caramel! |
CONS
| WaWa | QuikTrip | FamilyMart |
|---|---|---|
| Doesn’t sell lottery tickets | Poor prepared food selection | ATM doesn’t work |
| Difficult to access by foot | Sells Beer | Don’t know what half of the items are |
| ... | Not accessible by foot | Chocolate filled items may turn out to be red bean |
| ... | ... | Octopus balls |
4 comments:
I like Becca's scientific analysis. In my experiments, I have unearthed other interesting points:
It isn't limited to AMPM and FamilyMart. There is the behemoth that is 7-11, Natural Lawsons, and Circle K Sunkus.
You also have to love that you are allowed to walk inside and spend as much time as you like reading the magazines. You can go in on your lunch break every day and read magazines. It's interesting to see a whole bunch of people crowded around the magazine rack each day in the morning, at lunch, and at night. They definitely wouldn't let you do that in the states.
dan, with all due respect, 7-11 is not even the same species as WaWa. i say this as someone who grew up with 7-11 but was deprived of WaWa until relatively recently.
WaWa! WaWa coffee is the best! and hoagies! and they sell tastycakes!
deprived for 2 more months...
The good news is that Tokyo convenience stores don't have any of those hot dogs on the little heating machine that have been there for weeks. The bad news is they do have a collection of other gross food that's been there way too long...
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