Hard sell: Japan’s retail sector may need to reinvent itself in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic www.japantimes.co.jp

Face masks delivered from the convenience store chain’s headquarters are worn by employees, who are also asked to take their own temperature every day before work.
Different retail categories are meeting starkly different fates as the economic impact of the pandemic sweeps across Japan.
“Convenience stores and supermarkets may want to concentrate on providing goods and services that cannot be ordered via the internet, including take-home meals and side dishes.
And near the cashier is an extensive lineup of paper, filters and loose tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes, a rarity in convenience stores.
There are so many convenience stores out there, I suppose it helps to differentiate ourselves from the others.”