LOS ANGELES -- Who said coming to America was easy? Three years after opening its first store on the West Coast, Family Mart's Famima!! convenience store in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles closed its doors on March 30. A company official, however, calls the closing simply a matter of finding the right prime Westside location to better serve our customers.
Hidenari Sato, vice president ofmarketing for Torrance, Calif.-based Famima USA, told CSP Daily News, We [had] been considering the closure and relocation of the Westwood store with the successful [image-nocss] launching of our Culver Center Store. We will continually evaluate and restructure to best meet Famima!! standards, a practice commonly done with our operations in Japan.
He added that the company is still expanding, and on April 12 will open its second store in Long Beach, Calif., just ahead of the Toyota Grand Prix, to be held there April 13-15. It is the second opening there in five months.
Just two years ago, we were announcing the opening of our first store in West Hollywood; today I am proud to announce that the opening of our Belmont Shores Famima!!,said Shiro Inoue, president and CEO of Famima!! Corp. in a press statement about the new store in Long Beach. It's our mission to bring the same success that we've had overseas and make Famima!! a household name here in the United States by serving the highest-quality ready-to eat products with the highest level of freshness along with a warm welcoming atmosphere. At Famima!!, we provide the highest level of quality and service to our neighbors and community. Our customers are our family. Famima!! will always be there to lend a helping hand in the Long Beach community by supporting various events and organizations.
The Westwood closure was first noted by the Eater LA blog last week. For another blogger's detailed, candid view of Famima!!, click here.And to view a presentation by CSP's Angel Abcede on a visit to a Famima!! store, click here.
Famima's Amerasian product line includes gourmet sandwiches, salads, sushi, deli, dim sum, soup, freshly baked desserts, packaged specialty foods, organic gourmet coffee, gourmet prepared meals ready for the microwave oven and an assortment of hot and cold drinks. Convenience items include travel necessities, batteries, stationary, aspirin, magazines and newspapers. The stores also feature wireless Internet access, an ATM, a copy machine and an eat-in area.
Tokyo-based FamilyMart Co. Ltd.with more than 12,900 stores in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and China, and with net sales of approximately $10.3 billionsaid in 2003 that it planned to open more than 200 stores in the United States over several years, with the first ones in California, followed by stores in Oregon and Washington. The inaugural U.S. store opened in July 2005 in West Hollywood, Calif. The chain currently has about a dozen locations, all in California.
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