Japan has about 40,000 convenience stores, and sales at these stores have been declining for the past year. Given that sales everywhere have declined, that shouldn't be surprising, but convenience stores in Japan had previously been resistant to recessions. That's why there are 40,000 of them.
Apparently, it's no longer the case. What tends to separate convenience stores from other retail operations in Japan is that people expect their prices to be higher. That, after all, is the cost of "convenience," and the companies that run the stores took advantage of this prejudice by never reducing prices for any reason. Even when food approached its sell-by date/hour, store managers were not allowed to put it on sale. If they couldn't sell it, then they would just have to throw it out (and absorb the loss). At least, that was 7-11's policy until recently, when media coverage of this wasteful practice forced them to rethink it.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.