All-night stores disappearing: association

• By Huang Hsu-lei and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

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Nearly 10 percent of convenience stores nationwide were not operating around the clock in 2022 and the figure is projected to rise this year, the Association of Chain and Franchise Promotion, Taiwan said yesterday.

Convenience stores run by the four major operators — 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart — totaled 12,630 in 2022, of which 1,203 stores, or 9.5 percent, did not operate at all hours, association data showed.

The percentage would increase this year due to a shortage of labor and the low birthrate over the past four years, the association said.

A clerk sorts products at a convenience store in Taipei’s Beitou District yesterday.

Photo: CNA

“No one wants to work graveyard shifts,” a former convenience store franchisee said on condition of anonymity.

Stores running short of graveyard shift workers must have a store manager cover the shifts, they said.

The Ministry of Labor has increased the minimum wage for 10 consecutive years, from NT$120 per hour in 2016 to NT$196 per hour this year, or up 63.3 percent over the decade.

Personnel expenses make up more than 70 percent of a convenience store’s total operating costs, the former franchisee said.

Wages for graveyard shifts are 20 percent higher than day or swing shifts, but that is still insufficient to maintain sufficient workforce, they said.

Huang Yen-tsung (黃延聰), a professor of business administration at Tunghai University, said that graveyard shifts at convenience stores might run at a loss — if the store is not in an area with sufficient foot traffic at night — requiring managers to offset the deficit with daytime income.

An eight-hour graveyard shift still generates operational costs from utility and personnel expenses, Huang said.

Moreover, the low birthrate has created a new mindset among young people, he said.

They are not as motivated to take on night shifts to earn more money as people were 20 years ago, he said, adding that freelance work offers greater freedom.

Most college students are not keen about trainee positions at convenience stores either, he said.

Moreover, a store clerk’s job is not no longer limited to handling a cash register, they also have to make coffee, serve ice cream, cook tea eggs and sausages, handle bill payments and operate multifunction printers, while those on night shifts must clean coffee and oden machines, as well as take inventory and restock shelves, he said.

A franchisee speaking on condition of anonymity said that their store received no applications for clerk positions over the past half year, requiring the store manager to cover shifts.

Feng Chia University assistant marketing professor Yeh Jun-heng (葉俊亨) said that most convenience stores in residential-based shopping areas have few customers late at night.

Maintaining around-the-clock operations is not cost-effective for such stores, given the operating and personnel costs, Yeh said.

Convenience stores that never close would not disappear, but would become more tailored to the needs of local shopping areas, he said, adding that all-hours operations would depend on economic benefits.

Association deputy secretary-general Ku Shang-chun (顧上鈞) said that many convenience stores are trialing personnel-less operations for graveyard-shift hours or refraining from opening all night.

President Chain Store Corp (PCSC) runs more than 7,340 7-Eleven stores nationwide.

Adding 7-Eleven smart vending machines and other operations, PCSC has 8,398 service locations in Taiwan.

It has canceled around-the-clock operations at some stores since 2015, but it did not provide specific data.

Some 7-Eleven stores in closed commercial areas, such as industrial office buildings, department stores or hospitals, have adjusted their hours as required by the property owners, the firm said.

Its smart vending machines have been introduced near those places to meet consumers’ needs around the clock, it said.

The out-of-store operations help boost operating efficiency as well as improve the operation of its stores, it added.

Regarding the shortage of workers willing to work overnight, PCSC said it is continuing to develop its middle-aged and elderly workforce, adding that its employees aged 45 or older account for up to 32 percent of its total workforce.

PCSC not only took the lead in launching an onboarding training program for middle-aged and elderly employees, but was also the first to set up a training program for international students in Taiwan, it said.

As of this year, the company has set up 24 demonstration stores hiring international students nationwide, PCSC said.

Taiwan FamilyMart Co said FamilyMart stores focus on around-the-clock operations.

However, some stores’ hours have been adjusted according to actual consumer demand and shopping area characteristics, especially those in industrial zones or office buildings, where demand is low late at night, it said.