Western grocery chains in Japan

[KNorthrup]

I get a grocery industry newsletter every morning. The lead story today is that Tesco is bidding for the C-Two Network chain, 78 stores, mostly Tokyo.

There have also been recent stories about Wal-Mart beginning to significantly expand their existing Japanese presence (they're part-owner of Seiyu), as are Carrefour (French) and Costco (US).

Unpopular? Popular? No one cares?

[torakris]

I am not familiar with Tesco, it is a supermarket chain?

I have heard rumors about a Walmart store opening, but nothing concrete.

As to Costco and Carrefour, I shop at both. I am lucky to be able to easy access to both them as to their popularity in Japan....? hard to say. Carrefour is a decent store, mostly Japanese products, I was really hoping for more of a European selection but it seems they are bringing it in rather slowly. I notice new things on the shelves almost every time I go. They have one of the best fish departments in the area, I love their deli and bakery. I would say it ranks average to above average in popularity. The prices are average.

Costco Has only 4 stores in Japan and they are mostly in way out of the way places (cheaper land) but theya re not really accessible with out a car and Costco isn't exactly the kind of store you want to go to with out a car. The membership thing is relatively new to Japanese but by the numbers I see in the stores they are getting over it. They have about a 50-50 with American and Japanese products, but sometimes I wonder about who decides the stuff to bring in, I have seen some things and really wondered who is going to buy that in this country.

Each time I go it seems to be more and more crowded, I refuse to go on the weekends now.

[Jinmyo]

I am not familiar with Tesco, it is a supermarket chain?

Tesco is huge in the UK.

[torakris]

I am not familiar with Tesco, it is a supermarket chain?

Tesco is huge in the UK.

Cool!

Maybe they will bring over some of those yummy British foods!

[Jinmyo]

I am not familiar with Tesco, it is a supermarket chain?

Tesco is huge in the UK.

Cool!

Maybe they will bring over some of those yummy British foods!

Like prime rib?

[prasantrin]

This is an old thread, but I'm bringing it back up because I went to Costco today! I've only been here for two weeks (and two days) but some friends were going so I tagged along to see where it was. It's right next to the Carrefour so we went there, too.

Carrefour was great! We got there around 10:30 a.m. so they had a lot of free food samples :-). I bought some soy burgers but I didn't buy anything else because I still had to go to Costco. One thing I noticed was that they had a great Thai food section. I could buy bottles of Golden Boy soy sauce for only Y200 and the small bottle of fish sauce that was at least Y300 everywhere else was only Y150! And coconut milk (Chaokoh brand) was only Y135--the cheapest I've found elsewhere was Y190 and it wasn't even Chaokoh.

Costco was like a typical Costco--clothes, books, CDs, movies, etc. etc. What made it different, for me, were the prices. Many of the produce and American foods were much cheaper than what I can get in grocery stores or even discount stores. I was quite happy to find a case of 24 cans of Dad's root beer for only Y700!! I usually pay Y120/can. I also got 6 limes for only Y300 and 5 avocadoes for about Y600. I thought they were very good deals since I saw one lime for almost Y200 at Daiei the other day. My only disappointment was that I did not find any Jasmine rice, which I think Torakris mentioned she can get at the Kanto-area Costcos. I also didn't notice any kosher salt, but I wasn't specifically looking for it.

Interestingly, the food court had much the same foods as Canadian Costcos--hot dogs or polish sausage (though the Costcos in Winnipeg stopped carrying polish sausages), pizza (three types--combination, cheese, or seafood--no seafood pizza in Winnipeg)), churros, sundaes, and fruit-flavoured slurpee-type things. No french fries, though, and I don't remember if I saw the chicken bake, either. However, at this Costco (in Amagasaki, Hyogo) they also had a bulgogi bowl and clam chowder! The beverages offered were different, as well--no root beer, but oolong tea instead. The prices were similar, as well--in Winnipeg I would pay $2.99+tax for a hot dog and refillable drink while here it was Y262. Cheap for a hot dog in Japan!

One of the great things about the Amagasaki Costco was that they had takkyubin service (domestic delivery). To our area it was only Y400--well worth it when buying large, heavy items like my root beer or the huge bottles of ruby red grapefruit juice my friends bought. They won't deliver perishables but anything else is fine. For those of us who don't have cars, this is a fabulous service!

I think I'll be going back .

[torakris]

The Kobe Costco sounds similar to my Tokyo one, i am surprised about the Jasmine rice though, it has been there every time I go....

Seafood pizza? we only have a mix with peperoni, sausage, peppers, onions and olives, there is also no bulgogi bowl here, but there is a bulgogi bake similar to the chicken bake.

Limes and avocados are MUST purchases at Costco for me, like you said at other stores they can charge $2 (200 yen) per lime!

Carrefour is slowing becoming one of my favorite stores here, I make sure I always get there during sampling time (they stop it after lunch here) and they really do ave a nice and very reasonably priced "ethnic" section and my favorite part of the store is the fish shop. They have the freshest looking fish and the most incredible variety better than any store around.

[helenjp]

Carrefour is slowing becoming one of my favorite stores

Hmmm...interesting! Japanese friends tell me that the Carrefour in Chiba has mostly Japanese stuff, so they don't find it exciting enough to make the long drive there.

I haven't been to Carrefour, though it is close to the Chiba Costco, because both are incredibly inconvenient if you are not driving. Chiba Costco is not physically far from where I work, but I have to take two trains and a bus to get there!

I've only been twice to Costco, and doubt if it's worth renewing my card, because the stock is rather unpredictable -- I can't be sure of finding what I went there to buy. They have a great range of frozen foods, but most Japanese fridges don't have much freezer space!

[torakris]

Carrefour is slowing becoming one of my favorite stores

Hmmm...interesting! Japanese friends tell me that the Carrefour in Chiba has mostly Japanese stuff, so they don't find it exciting enough to make the long drive there.

I probably wouldn't drive much farther than I already do to get to Carrefour, I live about 20 minutes away (Minami Machida- Grandberry Mall store). I could actually get there faster by train, it is just 5 stops down on my line and the station there opens right up into the Grandberry Mall.

I was really disappointed when they first opened but recently they are stocking a lot more "foreign foods" and besides their fish, their bread is also excellent and they have decent cheese. You can also buy some of the more exotic vegetables and fruits for cheaper than the regular international supermarkets.

[prasantrin]

The Kobe Costco sounds similar to my Tokyo one, i am surprised about the Jasmine rice though, it has been there every time I go....

I'm wondering if the rice may have been in the area with the Vietnamese stuff (rice noodles, fish sauce, etc.). I only looked in the rice section and in that area, they only had Japanese rice. I was quite tired--it was a 15-20 minute walk from the train station to Carrefour, then we walked around Carrefour, then another 5 minutes to Costco and around there. That's a lot of walking!

I forgot...I did buy some Jasmine rice from Carrefour. I didn't buy the big bag (maybe 5 kg for just over Y2000) but I bought two little bags of about 2 cups each. Next time, if I still can't find the Jasmine rice at Costco, I may buy it at Carrefour and takkyubin it with my Costco purchases.

Seafood pizza? we only have a mix with peperoni, sausage, peppers, onions and olives, there is also no bulgogi bowl here, but there is a bulgogi bake similar to the chicken bake.

Maybe it was bulgogi bake and some other kind of bowl? I'll have to check again. But I'm pretty sure it said bulgogi bowl. You don't have plain cheese pizza, either? I wonder why the Amagasaki one would have more variety...

[torakris]

The Tamasakai Costco (Tokyo) has 3 kinds of pizza at the snack bar for eat in or take out, plain cheese, pepperoni and mix like I described above.

There are also two types tha you can buy in the refrigerated section (freshly made, cook at home) and they are 3 cheese and the same mix pizza from the snack area. No seafood.....

The Jasmine rice, at my store, is with the other rices. It is the same orange-ish color 5 kg bag you can buy at Carrefour but a little cheaper.

[Hiroyuki]

Since Torakris and other guys talk a lot about Jasmine rice, I just had to check several sites on it. Sounds very yummy!! I think I'll buy some the next time I go to Tokyo and try. Thank you all so much for giving me inspiration!!

[torakris]

Since Torakris and other guys talk a lot about Jasmine rice, I just had to check several sites on it. Sounds very yummy!! I think I'll buy some the next time I go to Tokyo and try. Thank you all so much for giving me inspiration!!

The brand that seems to be most popular here is called Golden Phoenix, it is really quite good, but be careful, once at Nissin World Market I accidentally bought a bag just labeled as Thai rice (not Jasmine) and it was awful!

My (Japanese) husband actually prefers Jasmine rice to Japanese......

[growpower]

torakris:

Can I trouble you to give train directions to the carrefour in Tokyo? I've only been to the carrefour in Chiba, but they had enough western/european ingredients at reasonable prices for me to be interested in finding one in Tokyo. I tried going to the carrefour site but didn't seen anything that showed a list of their stores, but then, my french is more than rusty.

-thanks

_A

[smallworld]

The Tokyo Carrefour is at Minami Machida Station on the Tokyo Den-en-toshi Line. There is another Carrefour in Sayama, Saitama (near Tokorozawa) which might be more convenient for you, depending on where you live. It's at Sayami-shi station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line (a bit of a hike from the station though).

A very useful site for train directions, just type in your station and your destination and it will recommend the best routes:

http://www.hyperdia.com/

[torakris]

Smallworld gave great directions!

It would really depend on where in Tokyo you are located, the Minami-machi location will be about 35 minutes on an express train from Shibuya (straight down the Denentoshi line)....

I second the use of hyperdia.com, I use it every time I ride the trains!!

[prasantrin]

I wasn't sure where to put this so I'm putting it here. I was at Costco today and they had 85% lean ground beef for only Y68/100 grams! While not cheap by North American standards, I thought it was a very good price and bought a pack. I'm going to divide it up and Tilia it for burgers, meatloaf, and bolognese sauce. I picked up some back ribs, too.

I also picked up a set of disposable barbeque-type grills that I might be able to use on my balcony. Today was Canada day, but I'm going to celebrate on Saturday with my very own patio party for one--burgers and ribs, I wonder if I can eat it all! I still have some root beer left and I also picked up some cheese, olives, and Hint of Lime tortilla chips so I can make nachos. Now if only I could find some decent cilantro...

[helenjp]

Hmmm...the only way I would make it to Chiba Costco or Carrefour is if somebody held a party there...

Are you listening, guys??!

[torakris]

I was at the Tokyo Costco yesterday! They have always had the ground beef at that price at ours, I pick it up all the time in the summer for BBQ's. From last month I noticed they were actually selling it formed into hamburger patties, 12 to a pack, this is probably a summer only thing.

I always pick up a pack or two of ribs when I can find them, but they don't seem to have them half the time.

I picked up some gorgeous kiwi there yesterday at only 40 yen a piece (sold in a box of 17), an incredible price for my side of Tokyo!

[Hiroyuki]

and they had 85% lean ground beef for only Y68/100 grams!

I'm curious to know, is that really 100% ground beef? No pork added?

I wish I could buy a pack to make 100% ground beef hamburgers!

[torakris]

and they had 85% lean ground beef for only Y68/100 grams!

I'm curious to know, is that really 100% ground beef? No pork added?

I wish I could buy a pack to make 100% ground beef hamburgers!

yes it is 100% beef, they sell a beef-pork mix for the same price...

[prasantrin]

I still don't have computer access at home, so my participation has been limited of late, but I was wondering if anyone else read about Carrefour's possibly closing. According the an article in the Daily Yomiuri last week, Carrefour is looking to sell its Japanese stores--with Tesco and AEON leading the way as bidders. I love Carrefour, so I would be sad to see it go (even though I only get there once every other month or so).

sorry if this is a repeat of already discussed material, but I didn't see anything about it during the (albeit brief) search I did.

[torakris]

No I haven't heard this....

I don't want to lose my Carrefour....

[torakris]

I just found a couple reports, all are dated 10/12/04, here is one saying theya re going to sell:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticl...section=finance

and this one says they are not:

http://www.retail-merchandiser.com/retailm...t_id=1000664088

[prasantrin]

I just found a couple reports, all are dated 10/12/04, here is one saying theya re going to sell:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticl...section=finance

and this one says they are not:

http://www.retail-merchandiser.com/retailm...t_id=1000664088

   

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Earlier this week (or late last week) there was another article in the Yomiuri. In this one, they stressed their commitment to Japan, but they refused to comment on whether they had spoken with other companies about selling. Well, it sounds they'll be here for the time being, at least! Yay for us!