Japanese Supermarkets

don't shop, don't know :)

(ID #52909) Posted on 2007/07/29 22:26

reply to 001's comment

seconded

(ID #243241) Posted on 2008/07/21 05:49

reply to Neocoyo_the_one's comment

That is always great to go to a supermarket and have a great welcome from the staff.

LCD devices? I saw some of them for the fridge alley (giving the temperature) but never as price indicators.

Yeah, generally food portions are small concerning pre-prepared meals. One so-called 4-people lasagna bolognese frozen meal was just enough for me. At wost, I'd leave less than a eighth that I would gulp some hours later.

But now I don't eat them anymore. Less lazy I am, I think! 

(ID #52912) Posted on 2007/07/29 22:49

reply to D_Blade's comment

And Danny, think of all the trees they save this way and the electricity they don't use in the process as it is solar-powered. A great long-term investment indeed!!

Forgive my poor grammar and spelling tonight. This is due to intensive homework, and I am not out of the woods yet. XD

(ID #52913) Posted on 2007/07/29 22:52

reply to D_Blade's comment

Well it saves time from workers hand work but also means that in the near future there won't a need for workers at supermarkets, putting a lot of people unemployed which is bad, but we can't stop technology from evolving can we :P

(ID #52915) Posted on 2007/07/29 22:58

reply to CrazyAnimeTuga's comment

this is so cool, great great great thing to have. We have good supermarkets here in Maryland, USA. very polite staff and always helpful. Some even have computers that will help you find what you are looking for with a touch screen.

(ID #52916) Posted on 2007/07/29 23:00

reply to Boris's comment

This would have been helpful to my previous boss who had to print out new labels every week, all those poor trees.  It would help me as well as I was the one that put the new labels on everything lol.  I agree that all the portions are small, but not on drinks while I was there ^-^, always got the big bottles to take back to the hotel to drink.

(ID #52917) Posted on 2007/07/29 23:00

reply to syrix's comment

Japan needs a Costco wholesale. Most food products are sold in large quantities. Not that it has too much variety, but it has most of the general items. I've taken up pastry making as a hobby and found myself looking through supermarkets lately. I can't always find what I need, but I noticed some things that I never thought existed. Our price tags are still scratch-built. Either our economy sucks or we're behind in technology.

(ID #52918) Posted on 2007/07/29 23:13

reply to Ken's comment

Supermarkets are a joke here in Michigan.  Joke is on us consumers and I'm not laughing.  Variety of goods and stock is terrible and the prices are ridiculous expensive.  Some of the time you find of helpful staff, but most of the time one gets a blank stare.  It a case of the lights are on but nobody is home. ^^;  I and my mom are both natives to this area of Michigan.  It's amazing how much a place can change.  I know it's not just us, my fiancee finds the prices and selection poor compared to Osaka.  I'm just glad that all of the U.S. is not like it is here in Michigan.

@Ken, most likely technology.  They do have Costco in Japan.  They look just like Costco here in the states.  I'm not sure the Japanese care much for it. ^^;

Danny, do you and your wife shop in Costco? 

(ID #52921) Posted on 2007/07/29 23:41

reply to Edward's comment

I've seen a whole bunch of these over at Carrefour and had always though that they had to individually change the pricing of each price labels if there was a change required, leading to a wait of time.

Only now do I know that that isn't the case ^^; Thanks for the heads-up!

(ID #52922) Posted on 2007/07/29 23:48

reply to windbell's comment

Supermarkets in my area are mostly acceptable with quite a large variety of goods. 
But the down side is that it can get rather difficult to find any Japanese products. In addition to that the cashiers are usually hopelessly slow.

(ID #52923) Posted on 2007/07/30 00:04

reply to Setsuna-san's comment

Supermarkets are constantly changing around the shelving, so you have to embark on a complete tour of the store (thus being tempted to buy useless things) before you can leave!

Recently there's been this trend where supermarkets, and clothing stores too, use recyclable canvas bags. Do Japanese stores have this trend?

(ID #52925) Posted on 2007/07/30 00:15

reply to oliphant's comment

The supermarkets here (Singapore) vary very greatly. 
Some are very wide aisle, sell wide variety of things including a 30" widescreen TV and LCD price display (like the above) or barcode scanners located around the store to check prices. 
On the other hand, some sell only the daily stuff and have narrow aisle and are usually crowded, although the prices are cheaper there.

(ID #52926) Posted on 2007/07/30 01:07

reply to the1iam's comment

the1iam is probably referring to Carrefour or NTUC Fairprice in the former, and Prime Supermarket in the latter. :P

Supermarkets here are decent enough for me, as most of the time I'm there only to get snacks. Portions are a bit bigger, definitely, and possibly cheaper.

(ID #52929) Posted on 2007/07/30 02:21

reply to AK-kun's comment

Wwaaitt... Solar powered? So what your saying is that it's "wirelessly" connected to the store lights? I don't even see the panels o.o; besides can't they also be connected to the central location to draw power just as they receive information?

It's pretty nice to have these but- half of its features are useless.

(ID #52930) Posted on 2007/07/30 02:23

reply to Aaronime's comment

They can put the solar panels on the roof and just have wires connecting to the displays...

(ID #52932) Posted on 2007/07/30 02:31

reply to potatokan's comment

The problem is that the vegetables are too much exepensive for a person that are very use to eat thoe like latin american people (because we actually raise them) 

(ID #52933) Posted on 2007/07/30 02:40

reply to jjjlmx's comment

Yes, the do have Costco in Japan.

http://www.costco.co.jp/

My Sister in Law is a member.  She absolutely loves it.  She gets together with her neighbors and they stock up on food and other items.  I checked it out back in March and was happy to see that it was very similar to US Costcos.  They even let me in with my US membership card but I'm not sure if I would have been able to buy something with it.  

(ID #52934) Posted on 2007/07/30 02:52

reply to Sgt Beavis's comment

I'm surprised you didn't throw in a joke about them getting stolen if the place were in London. Supermarkets here are pretty okay, but obviously not as efficient as they are over in Japan.

(ID #52935) Posted on 2007/07/30 04:31

reply to Zeroblade's comment

I've also seen those things here in spain, in carrefour.

(ID #52937) Posted on 2007/07/30 07:30

reply to McKlain's comment

Slurpsss...seeing this post on food makes my mouth watery.Good comment from others thou.

(ID #52939) Posted on 2007/07/30 09:52

reply to Collector's comment

Supermarkets in nagoya have had these for quite a while but theres still some with the old fashion paper prices :) Even some supermarkets in australia have those displays too but its normally the smaller independant stores.

I have never ever experienced a polite bow from a worker at the checkout in japan!!!! I am totally missing out it seems

(ID #52940) Posted on 2007/07/30 10:08

reply to Uradox's comment

Considering how large portions are here in the states, I'd say smaller portions would be a good thing. *pats belly* Larger portions encourages you to eat more than you really should. ;-)

My daughter and I will be coming to Japan in October. We'll probably have 4 or 5 days to spend in Tokyo. Any ideas on good, inexpensive places to stay? Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)

(ID #52942) Posted on 2007/07/30 10:37

reply to Dak Roland's comment

Super Markets in the UK are beggning to become Jumble sales, what with the rise of price slashing giant , Netto. On my highstreet there are far too many. We have 2 Sainsburys, an Iceland, and god knows what else.
Japanese Supermarkets ftw!

(ID #52948) Posted on 2007/07/30 13:31

reply to Otaku Blue's comment

Tesco's have plasma/TFT screens in their supermarkets, which play their tv ads non-stop. Never seen electronic price tags, but the new fad in supermarkets is self-service checkouts. 

(ID #52949) Posted on 2007/07/30 13:36

reply to Subaruhess's comment

Yup the new fad over here are the new self-checkout lanes. If it's over in Japan now the supermarkets in the USA will soon adopt ^^ I think that is really neat that they can do that, but kind of scary at the same time, they can add 5% at any time!

Every supermarket I have been to, ever in the USA has always been clean and orderly. Most atendees are very friendly and helpful. The selection is great (especially at Giant, Superfresh and Food Lions) and prices are not that bad compared to rest stop stores.

A lot of supermarkets now have their own salad bars, fresh produce (Giant is FRESH) Bakeries (cakes cookies desserts the entire lot) and Meat sales (meat is fresh and tastes great).

(ID #52950) Posted on 2007/07/30 14:05

reply to -XYZPDQ's comment

Here in Belgium, there are also super markets that have these kind of displays.  Some even have a self-service cash register, where you can scan your products yourself and pay.

In Japan, I haven't seen these displays in small 7-11 type of supermarkets like Lawson. Probably the shop is too small for any profit, and I've noticed that almost every day other products are lying on the same spot (everything is still in sections though).

But it's a good system :)

(ID #52952) Posted on 2007/07/30 15:49

reply to Hatix's comment

Here in the Philadelphia suburbs supermarkets vary from one company to another.  Those that cut prices to the bare minimum also offer minimum service and have the lousiest prepared foods.  Then there are those supermarkets that cater to people who want an enjoyable shopping experience with a lot of variety to choose from.  Naturally, you pay more for this experience.  For those that can afford it, it's well worth the cost.  I shop at the bargain places for most things, because a box of Cocoa Pebbles cereal is a box of Cocoa Pebbles wherever you go.  The fancy stores tend to have very good prepared foods, meats, and baked goods so I go there when I'm feeling lazy.

(ID #52953) Posted on 2007/07/30 17:19

reply to super rats's comment

At my previous company, we were making those electronic tags and other retail devices, including a fastlane.  When I started there, I was also soo amazed at how efficient the entire process is.  Wish my country's supermarkets would adapt to this kind of technology.  But I doubt that happening anytime soon.  Those devices are just way too expensive right now. :D

(ID #53014) Posted on 2007/07/31 07:35

reply to BeLe's comment

The warehouse-like supermarkets are popular here in the philippines ^^

Some large supermarkets here like SM and Rustans has self-service price checkers and little LCD screens in the shelves where ads of the product is being shown.

SM Supermarket is now pushing with an eco-friendly shopping with the introduction of what they call a Green Bag which can be use and reuse therefore lessening the use of plastic shopping bags and paper bags ^^

(ID #53023) Posted on 2007/07/31 08:07

reply to Henry's comment

I have yet to see digital price tags in supermarkets here.

(ID #53042) Posted on 2007/07/31 10:26

reply to Amon's comment

Can anyone help me contacting this price-tag manufacturer? Thanks.

(ID #70979) Posted on 2008/01/29 20:11

reply to ilovethailand's comment

They don't have it here in UK but they do have it over in Singapore however. UK needs a high tech revolution to propel it further into the technology industry or else Singapore and most Asian nations will run away with all the tech stuff that I love so much.

(ID #185033) Posted on 2008/05/10 21:27

reply to DEFC0N's comment

Yes, super markets in my region are rather efficient and convenient. My favorites would be Kroger and Publix because they lay out the items very nicely and it's easy to find what you need. I also like how they have the organic/healthy alternatives on each row in their own position. This digital price changing also seems very efficient and I hope to see it in use over where I live in the future.

(ID #252885) Posted on 2008/07/31 23:41

reply to jos_hua's comment

i can't get enough of japanese grocery stores.. absolutely love the food and supplies. 

(ID #267506) Posted on 2008/08/16 21:20

reply to const011's comment