A recent decision by Seven-Eleven Japan Co. to change its policy requiring franchisees to run their convenience stores around the clock and allow some stores to operate on reduced hours is yet another indication that the industry's business model based on uniform 24-hour operations among all stores is no longer sustainable due to the nation's growing manpower shortage.

Most of the more than 50,000 convenience stores across Japan are run by small-scale franchisees who often find themselves in a weak position vis-a-vis the big chain operators. But the convenience store industry itself — as well as consumers who have come to take the convenience of those stores for granted — will stand to lose if the staffing shortage and the greater strain on store owners endanger their business. The big chain operators need to explore and shift toward a new model that can sustain the operation of the small franchisees.

Seven-Eleven Japan is the largest convenience store chain in Japan, boasting some 21,000 stores nationwide. It began 24-hour operations at its stores in 1975 and established the current model that has become the industry standard. Even as doubts were cast over the sustainability of the uniform 24-hour operation of convenience stores — triggered by its own dispute with a store in Osaka Prefecture that had curtailed its nighttime operations due to staffing difficulties despite opposition from the chain — the firm had been the most hesitant among the major operators toward reviewing their round-the-clock service.