Convenience stores such as 7-11 may soon find themselves operating under normal business hours. 24 hour operations have recently been under scrutiny because of superfluous energy consumption. Being able to pick something up from the store at all hours has its advantage, but with these hard times upon us, is it worth the wasted energy to be able to pick up a breakfast sandwich at 3am?

Operations on an around the clock strategy may be effective for some businesses, but it deserves a second look.

Extending hours of service may be good to serve the market but perhaps one thing that 24 hour convenience stores should look at is customer volume. If you don’t get customers at the graveyard times, why should you keep the shop open?

Debate is currently ongoing about whether they should be allowed to stay open round-the-clock, with some municipalities, including Saitama Prefecture, Tokyo and Kyoto, considering asking for voluntary curbs to all-night operations.

“We are considering asking (store operators in the prefecture) to voluntarily refrain from staying open 24 hours, although this is not limited to convenience stores,” said Hiroshi Ando, a Saitama official.

(Source) The Japan Times