The convenience of 7-Eleven in Thailand
Convenience serves people. In Thailand the ample presence of 7-Eleven and FamilyMart is an example of such convenience. You walk you hotels and in a radius of 100 meters there is always one to be found. Most of these shops are also open 24 hours a day. Great right?
7-Eleven: 38.000 stores
They are only small shops, but the range is often sufficient. You can find what you need there. In the Netherlands we do not have a 7-Eleven and that is remarkable because the retail chain has even more branches (38.000) than Mc Donalds, to name a few.
You will hardly find this franchise store chain in Europe. You can only find 7-Eleven (or a derivative thereof) in Sweden, Denmark or Norway. They are amply represented in Asia, Australia, Canada and the US. The chain has stores in 16 different countries.
7-Eleven Thailand
In Thailand, there are about 4.000 stores, half of which are in Bangkok. This makes Thailand even the country with the most 7-Eleven stores behind the US and Japan.
The small supermarkets are mainly 'convenience stores' and the range includes ice cream, frozen meals, fast food, refrigerated drinks, drugstore items, sweets, cigarettes and telephone cards. At almost every 7-Eleven you will find one or more cash machines (ATM). I read that you can report some of them, by way of trial. Thai even come there to pay their bills.
FamilyMart
The stores of competitor FamilyMart are comparable in terms of assortment. FamilyMart is clearly less in number with just under 17.000 stores worldwide. There are about 600 branches in Thailand.
7-Eleven Bangkok, if you are in one branch, you will see the other…………….
Indeed, they have everything, from Hello Klitty tissues to various hot soups, great !!
You stop there, fill a few plastic bags, give fifty Bath, and you have provisions in the car for three days, capon cap!
Well, 50 Baht won't get you very far these days.
1 loaf of bread and half a liter of coca-cola is just enough :o)
(50Baht=€1,25)
A larger and cheaper range can be found at "Lotus expres".
But that chain is not widely represented.
Sometimes it takes a while to find.
Your electricity bill if you rent a house or condo, you always have to pay at 7 eleven with a small surcharge.
dear Edy
What do you mean by your last phrase . Your answer is interesting because I will be renting .
EDDY with two dd's Apologies
Moderator: chat sessions are not allowed. Not interesting to others.
Not only Thai pay their bills at 7Eleven
Also a lot of farang Electricity and water especially. So do I
Gerrit
If you book a flight ticket by phone with Orient Thai (One-To-Go), the (usually) cheapest 'domestic carrier', you will receive a code by SMS with which you can pay for your flight at any 7 Eleven.
It is, of course, 'One-Two-Go'. Sorry!
The concept of 7-Eleven and Family Mart is phenomenal. Open 24 hours a day for anything you forgot and excellent service. Outside the "ordinary" opening hours, somewhat comparable to the night shops in our major cities, but with the big difference that night shops are expensive and the prices in 7-Eleven and Family Mart are almost the same as the large supermarkets.
What also fascinates me about these stores is the supply. Always late at night or even at night. In the Netherlands I have been arguing for years for nightly supplies to stores, such as Albert Heijn. The extra costs (wage costs, etc.) do not outweigh the benefits of not being stuck in traffic.
Years ago it was decided in Thailand that large supermarkets are closed at night to save energy. The 7-Eleven and Family Mart are excluded from this and I often think that - especially in somewhat remote residential areas - it would be best to make arrangements to close at night by rotation. If 1 is closed, another is open in a radius of about 1 km. But yes, labor costs in Thailand are low and they are franchise businesses, so each for himself and Bhudda for all. I know about eight in my living area, I come there regularly, also for the payment of water and electricity. One day my favorite Mars bar was sold out at a Family Mart and it took two days to restock. Actually an incident, because normally everything is always sufficiently in stock.
Somehow I don't like the fam mart. 7-11 is a concept. When we travel we always look for a 7-11. After all, you know what they have.
whiskey, condoms, chips, cigarettes, etc
Dear Bert Gringhuis,
In Pattaya, Foodland (a large supermarket specializing in Western food) is open 24 hours.
So closing time at 22.00 p.m., as applied by Lotus and Carrefour, is apparently not a measure by the Thai government.
furthermore, the out of stock of certain articles in Thailand is a very normal phenomenon, even with western groups such as Texo Lotus and Carrefour, and it often takes more than a week before the article in question is replenished.
True, but….. the nearest 7-Eleven to me is 300 meters from my house. Foodland about 2000 meters, so where do you go at night? I also can't imagine that Foodland - and also many 7-Elevens and Family marts - can justify the nightly opening in terms of cost / revenue.
The closure measure WAS taken by the government, but 7-Eleven, Family Mart and apparently also Foodland were able to avoid it for whatever reason.
A little bit about Pattaya; You forget the shops of BEST in the list. Good supermarkets. I have one near us when I am in Thailand. The Family market is our shop next door. Not much different from the 7 eleven. Have almost the same range there. Have a 7 eleven down the road that I visit when my family doesn't have it. For my piece of cheese and some boiled eggs etc. I'm going to BEST and for the rest Family. Foodland is more of a store for people who miss their food from home so much. (and not the cheapest though) Nice stuff. Walk in there sometime. Then there is also a nice shop behind the mac donals in Scond street (forgot the name) And when I am in the area I cross over to the new shopping center Centrum Festivan for a delicious fresh raisin bread with ropo butter delicious. And by the way, there is also a beautiful supermarket there. Fresh, fresh and affordable..
Yes, we all have our own (niceties) after all. But it's nice that we're talking about it. Everyone has their own experiences and that way we can learn something from each other.
Regards Ruud
See you at the supermarket
Another addition. The supermarkets of Carefour, Lotus and Big C are also fine.
WIKIPEDIA tells us the following
7-ElevenFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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7-Eleven in Copenhagen. 7-Eleven (say: Seven Eleven) is an international chain of convenience stores. The company has stores in 18 countries, primarily in Japan (more than a third of all 7-Eleven stores in the world are located in Japan), the United States, Australia, Republic of China (Taiwan), People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Mexico, Canada and Scandinavia. As of March 2007, it is the largest retail chain in the world, beating McDonalds with more than 30.000 stores worldwide. In addition, it employs 31.500 people worldwide.
The chain originated in Dallas, Texas, where a Southland Ice Company employee began selling milk, eggs, and ice cream. It was then called Speedee-Mart, but the name was changed to its current name in 1946, which indicated that the store was open from seven in the morning to eleven at night. This was very special at the time.
The current owner of the company is Seven & I Holdings Company of Japan.
No branches have yet been opened in the Netherlands and Belgium.
I do wonder why they actually have a lock on the front door.
for the same reason kamikaze pilots wore helmets I think…
No seriously: That lock was already in the doors that the company had purchased. And during the red shirt riots at this time last year, 'our' 7 ELEVEN (Soi Ngam Duplee BKK) really got locked for a while…..
At 7/11 you can really pay for everything from water to electricity, TOT, True Vision, AIA, you name it. Very practical and for a minimal surcharge
The 7/11 group is headquartered in Japan and has more than 39.000 shops
The name originally came from being open from 7.00:11.00 am to XNUMX:XNUMX pm and then seven days a week.
I've been told that the bell on the door sounds the same as in the US and in Thailand, whether that's true I don't know, best believe it.
A few years ago there was still thunder between ahold concern and 7/11.
ahold was interested in the 7/11 group but could not handle this, so 7/11 started the attack and threatened to take over ahold. That all ended with a fizzle.
In Thailand, I think the government has connections with 7/11, last year a new 20/7 was opened in Kutchap, 11 km from Udon Thani.
From the opening day, there were police almost every day to prevent cars from parking in front of the business. While I normally hardly ever see police in this village.
ra ra
They are certainly not environmentally friendly, at least in Thailand, way too much disposable plastic packaging, by the way money for the whole of Thailand I now suddenly realize this typing
Isn't that great that bell, only you will be standing in that shop all day...
As far as I know the Thai 7/11 is a Thai company that has the rights to use the 7/11 concept here. This company will undoubtedly be owned by one of the wealthy Thai families with connections in the police/military and politics. Why are some stores allowed to be open 24/7 and others not?
Many 7/11s are private franchise companies that are entirely controlled by 7/11 Thailand.
7/11 are also more expensive. The street shop in the street is often 1 or 2 baht cheaper than the 7/11. I like to support the local area so often buy all the little things in the street shop.
The village 2km away didn't have 6/7 or anything 11 years ago. Since 3 years there is a 7/11, an ATM and since a few weeks a Tesco/LotosExpress (also open 24/7).
Fortunately, most Thai people are very lazy and just go to the first shop they come across, even if it is more expensive.
Chang Noi
Yes chang that also surprises me, if you already have so little money you go to the more expensive 7/11 while across the street a store sells the same stuff for less.
My girlfriend always wants to buy at 7/11, so stick stamps, don't try to explain that you actually pay for those stamps yourself.
It's really true, I looked at those stamps with amazement, last time she had a plastic set of storage boxes. Also funny again her parents don't have a fridge so well.
In the 7/11 where she buys there is also a large poster, for the people who don't save stamps but who can stick them on it.
Can you guess 3 times where that stuff goes. Monks.
Chg Noi I think you are right that every country or region has its own board
By the way nice CHANG NOI = Chang is beer after all and NOI means oldest in Thailand. . So in this supermarket discussion you are the oldest beer. ( meant as a joke, I appreciate all your contributions )
Ruud
chang is a beer brand, and chang means elephant, right? Or am I temporarily suffering from Alzheimer's
chiang noi means little elephant.
I also like that 7/11. If you need a phone card or anything else, just pop in. I think it is impossible to do in the Netherlands in terms of. personnel costs and safety.
Yes, that supermarket in Central Festival is absolutely amazing, what beautiful stuff there, I've been amazed, no store can compete with that in Holland.