IT'S A FROG'S LIFE
IN TAIWAN


At your convenience -
the wonder of the convenience store

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So you've run out of milk, or you want to buy a newspaper, or you just fancy a snack. Where do you go? The answer, if you live in Taiwan, is the convenience store. And the undisputed king of the convenience store is...

7-Eleven

Named after two lucky numbers* (not the opening hours, as I had incorrectly guessed) 7-Eleven stores are everywhere. I don't mean 'metaphorically everywhere' I mean 'literally everywhere'. Let me give you an example...
*I have it on reliable authority from a friend in the States that the store is originally American and was originally named after the opening hours. I prefer the 'local' lucky number explanation myself!

From my apartment here in Taipei I can walk from the front entrance and be outside a 7-Eleven in four minutes. From there I can keep on walking and be at another one in one minute. I can carry on walking in the same direction and be at a third one in another four minutes, or I could have turned round from the first store and been at fourth one in as short a time as another four minutes. Not happy with that? ...then it's just a hop, skip and a jump over the footbridge to the MRT station where there's a mini-7-Eleven, open during station hours. Now that's what I mean by 'everywhere'.

Here is a photo taken from our apartment that shows just how close these stores are. Hold your curser over an arrow to read about each store. Click on the arrow only if you want to see the store in question.

The closest 7-Eleven - four minutes walk from the apartment gate The next closest is less than two minutes from the one on the main road This one is four minutes from the one on the corner of this road This one is four mintes from the store on the main road, and only five minutes from the apartment This 'mini-7-Eleven' is across the footbridge just inside the train station. Did I mention there's another one 7 minutes walk along the main road? Sorry, no photo though.

So why are they so popular? The simple answer is convenience - they are so darned handy. Why go all the way to the supermarket when you can pop into a 7-Eleven? And don't get the idea that it's just a kind of souped-up newsagents. At your 24 hour 7-Eleven you can buy soup (hot), underwear (new), and milk tea (chilled). You can also withdraw cash from a cash machine, and pay your bills...*
[*Every domestic bill has a bar code on it. Take the bill to the 7-Eleven and hand it over to the cashier, who scans the bar code and takes your money. Bill paid! Simple, eh?]

Now, having gone to such an effort to demonstrate how close the five 7-Eleven stores are to my apartment I must point out that some people have the grave misfortune of actually living more than a five minutes walk from even the closest 7-Eleven. Catastrophe? No. Disaster? Not at all. For where there isn't a 7-Eleven you will find one of a host of other convenience stores all eerily-bright (particularly at 3 in the morning), and all vying for passing custom.

Take your pick... you can choose from the "OK Mart", and the "Niko Mart". Alternatively there are "Family stores" and "Hi-life" - both pictured below...

Every time the door of a Family Mart opens it plays a tune. For your delight and pleasure I've added the audio of the tune here.


And finally, don't be fooled into thinking that these stores are all well spaced out. It is all too common to find them facing each other across a busy street (the Family Store above is immediately opposite 7-Eleven store number 2 on the location map), or even next to each other as the photo below shows.

So raise a cup with me and drink a toast to the wonder that is the Taiwanese convenience store - a friend indeed whatever you need, at whatever time of day or night you may just happen to need it. Milk tea, anyone?

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Store number 1 - click on the photo to return to the location map

 



Store number 2 - click on the photo to return to the location map

 



Store number 3 - click on the photo to return to the location map

 



Store number 4 - click on the photo to return to the location map

 



Store number 5 - only open during station opening hours.
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Page created 5th May 04 - updated 29th Jan 05
Copyright Graham Holland © 2004

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