They are Conquering Japan’s Economy with Style

They built a giant Aeon in Hakusan but it’s only conveniently accessible by car and walking to it is like US barren parking lot shopping center wasteland areas since they didn’t develop the outskirts of the land so I rarely go. There’s something similar closer to me but not Aeon so I go there. I think department stores are getting eclipsed but for good reason. Local shops like the grocery store are unaffected. People don’t want to drive to a far away grocery store every day, this is a daily fresh groceries culture. For home goods I go to one of the 2 drug stores within a 10 minute walk of my home. Maybe Nagano City is a poorly developed area compared to Kanazawa but it’s difficult to see this predicament.

This is an absolutely textbook situation. Those who cannot see the burning forest through the trees are going to be the downfall of us all in this late stage capitalistic hellscape of a society

Wasn't there a viral video just recently of a completely empty Aeon mall somewhere? I forget where it was.

>Always with you from born to death

LIPPO GROUP, IS THAT YOU?

6:13 at this part, AEON just trying to be Samsung in Japan

The story of Aeon sounds like the strategy of SM here in the Philippines.

Those shopping district is often directly connected to living space of shopkeepers. Sometimes not even door exits to separate the shop and house. This make it harder for them to renting it to someone.
It’s hard to renovate because it’s freaking close to each other, and maintenance fees you have to pay to the management team for keep opening the shop is very high. It’s literally the best choice to just shut down the shop and keep living in it.
People living around is old, so they won’t buy it anyways. It’s built right next to station or something most of the times, making them cost much more and appearing much more less.
Those supermarkets are in fact making thing lot more harder, but shopping districts in rural towns will die out anyways.

If only Walmart was even nearly as nice as Aeon, I wouldn't be mad about them being everywhere. (Although hilariously enough, I've seen a Walmart shopping bag being sold in Aeon).

Roses are red,
Starfruits are yellow/green,
Capitalism is here,
And that might be the last thing they see….

Aeon is peek though, I love Aeon its so nostalgic and i used to go there throughout my childhood.

you want to stop them because the nature of capitalism. once they get big enough and have monopoly on everything they start to jack up prices and the working class suffers because there won't be alternatives

AEON's rise is downstream of low birth rates. The shopping streets would be sustainable if everyone had 3 kids and the least ambitious one could inherit the store. When everyone only has one, asking them to not go to Tokyo (and so condemning them to a life of loneliness) is a huge ask. AEON is a big company and besides the economy of scale can tell middle managers to run a store in the boonies for a couple years while their families stay in the city.

The conflict isn't even between the big stores and the small stores. It's between societies and the natural process of decline

Shopping malls are thriving in Japan while dying in America. Cities here are built differently and the malls are integrated closely with the train stations. The example here is an exception. Japanese people are very cost conscious, so if they attempt to raise prices, customers will go elsewhere. It’s a self sustaining loop that works well. As a westerner living in Japan, I prefer more expensive supermarkets that offer more selection and healthier, but cost effective supermarkets are the most popular here. Tons of plastic!

香港Content creator 👍🏻

Nagano did it right! AEON is a straight-up sword in the heart of Japanese culture, the livelihoods of its traditional businesses and in the longer term its entire economy. Inner city parking is a nightmare most cities, solving this alone would take most of the incentive out of building new malls and costcos.

add a pachinko parlor or 5 around the mall and you have peak countryside/ small city killer