News Yamazaki convenience store opens branch inside Chiba high school

In Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, the local public high school once ran a small campus shop selling a limited range of bread and filled buns. When the shop struggled financially and closed in 2022, students were left with only two vending machines that offered similar items.


Late last month, however, the school introduced a new option—a fully equipped convenience store operated by the Yamazaki Baking Company. The shop, which opened on 25 September, occupies about 32 square metres, roughly the size of a compact neighbourhood convenience store. Despite its modest footprint, it carries around a thousand products, giving students a far broader range of choices than before.


Because the store is located inside the school and is not open to the public, alcohol and tobacco are not sold. Students can instead buy typical convenience store foods such as rice balls, bento lunches, instant noodles, soft drinks, and light snacks, as well as everyday items like pens, notebooks and towels. Local education officials said it was the first time in Chiba Prefecture that a major convenience store chain had opened a branch inside a public high school.

The school does have a couple of stipulations for this unique branch. First, while self-checkout registers are becoming more common in Japanese convenience stores, all of the Matsudo High Yamazaki Shop's sales have to be rung up by an employee, and the bread and rice balls they sell also must have been made that same day. It also doesn't operate under the 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week schedule that's the norm for Japanese convenience stores, and is instead open only on weekdays from 10: 30 a.m. to 6 p.m., making it accessible to kids after class and extracurricular activities. As for whether the Yamazaki Shop will prove more profitable than the school's previous bread-only shop, the owner, who has a half-dozen other convenience store franchises, isn't too terribly concerned, as he's a Matsudo native who wants to do something nice for his hometown. The school's principal also says they also hope for the store to serve as an educational opportunity for programs in which students can learn about subjects such as marketing and distribution.

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