Growth and Development
FamilyMart also has franchise stores in Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, China (Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Suzhou), United States, Bangladesh and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City ). In addition, South Korean franchisees operate two stores in North Korea for South Korean visitors and workers in the Kaesong Industrial Region and Mount Kumgang Tourist Region. As of August 31, 2009, there are 21,360 stores worldwide, with fast growth in Asia outside of Japan. There are 9,100 stores in Japan 7,634stores in South Korea 2,832 stores in Taiwan 1005 stores in China 754 stores in Thailand 25 stores in Vietnam and 10 stores in the USA.
Beginning in July 2005, FamilyMart began building and opening several stores in Los Angeles, California, the first of 250 planned for the United States by 2009. The North American brand name is "Famima!!".
On January 30, 2006, FamilyMart began trials of an automatic cashier station at one of its Tokyo locations in cooperation with Itochu and Toshiba. Special tags on items in the customer's shopping basket are remotely and instantly sensed at the register.
In November 2010, FamilyMart announced it would freeze the number of locations in the United States to 10 stores due to the difficult economic environment. However, operations in certain parts of Asia, especially China, continue to expand.
In June 2012, Family Mart in South Korea announced that from August that year they would be rebranding under the name CU.
The highest located convenience store, a FamilyMart, is located in Taipei in the skyscraper Taipei 101. It gives employees a place to shop while working.
FamilyMart will soon launch in the Philippines under the ownership of Ayala Corporation, Rustan's Group and Itochu.
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