7-Eleven : My extended pantry and a lot more

One of the many 7-Eleven stores in the city



Did you know that Japanese convenience store company, 7-Eleven, has highest number of franchise in the world?  Yes,  it surpassed McDonald's in this race long ago.  

Do you know which country has the lowest number of Customer to 7-Eleven store ratio? Bingo! its Taiwan. Since its first store opened in 1980s, Uni-President, its Taiwanese owner has not looked back and opened over 4500 stores in every livable corner of this island. Each store now claims to serve no more than 6200 repeated customers. There is a 7-Eleven store in my residential building and I can literally walk less than 100 metres in any direction from my building and bump into another one. I have also seen several streets with these stores almost facing each other.  

Having a 7-Eleven right where you live is super convenient and it stands unbelievably true to the concept of convenience store. Extent of service and products it offers is beyond comprehensive. Above and beyond all the paid products and services it offers, it ends up providing one free service and that is sense of 24x7 security. These stores are open all the time with bright florescent light and security cameras. I can walk alone with my girl friends late hours of the night from a night market and not be worried because there are 7-Eleven almost everywhere and there are always people in there shopping! Enter any time of  the day and you will be greeted by a loud sweet sounding cry from super friendly 7-Eleven employees which sounds like "Good Morning" said in a little stretched southern US accent but actually they are saying "Huan Yin" meaning welcome. In some of the busy stores at busy hours, you will hear a constant chant of "Huan Yin" as people constantly pour in and out.



Typical store from inside: clean, organized and well lit.



Taiwanese people rely heavily on these stores and it is now embedded in there daily life and culture. They have several 7-Eleven souvenir (only) stores as well! Now who would buy a convenience store souvenir? hmm, you will  be surprised, but these stores witnesses some decent traffic! 7-Eleven mascot is cute and cheerful and sits proudly on desks, cell phones, bags, books of many of my local friends and colleagues. God forbid but if this ubiquitous chain of 7-Eleven stores decides to close down some day in Taiwan then I think country could actually crumple. In the spirit of adopting Taiwanese culture and lifestyle, one of my first and easiest thing was to imbibe in to the 7-Eleven culture, after all the store and I shared same notion of "keep it simple, silly".  

7-Eleven Taiwan Mascot

In Taipei, kitchens and pantries are smaller than what I am used to from my days in India and US. I quickly figured out that there was no point (and place) to stock a lot of extra stuff in the house. My fridge is full of Indian spices, flours and lentils and there really isn't enough cabinet space beyond my extensive set of pots and pans. We decided very early that "Buy it as you need" was the most efficient way to go. Within few weeks of living in this apartment, we realized that you can go down to 7-Eleven for almost anything and it will cost barely any additional time or money. It takes 15 secs to go down stairs, pick what you want, get out in 45 sec, back up in 30 secs so in total 1.5 mins max you are back at your place with things that you need. There is one more advantage of shopping at 7-Eleven, you can get point stickers every time you shop something and after you have collected enough points you can exchange your point card for its cute toy of the month. By now I have a collection of little toys and I have to confess that I am a little addicted to collecting stickers or lets say those cute toys!



Some of the 7-Eleven toys that I have collected.

Movie night tonight? By the time I pop a DVD and get ready to hit the PLAY button, my dear hubby is back with a bag of popcorn and soda from 7-Eleven.

Need cash and stamps? No problemo pick it up from ATM at 7-Eleven. 

Want to buy books online but not sure about giving your credit card? Don't worry, use pick up and pay service at 7-Eleven.

Out of sugar? ill get you in a minute honey from 7-Eleven, says by hubby

Party night and out of drinks and chips? Smirnoffs and lays back on the table without your friends realizing that you actually left your home for a minute.

Can't keep your eyes open for this late night conference call? Gourmet caramel machiato from 7-Eleven City Cafe might just do the trick for you.

Pay Bills? Sure, bring all your cell phone, gas, water, electricity and any other utility bill. Oh and you can also bring your parking ticket!

How about a trip to South Taiwan? Buy High Speed Train tickets from 7-Eleven

Hungry kya? Take your pick from a huge array of good quality healthy salads, cut fruits, noodles, soups, trail mixes, gourmet pastries, yogurt, jellies, crackers, cookies and lot of unusual local products that I do not recognize.  





unusual local product (Black fungus drink) on 7-Eleven Shelf.

  

Missing home? Buy a little Taiwan souvenir and a card from the store and send it back home using its courier service

Visiting Taipei but forgot your essentials? Don't worry be happy we have 7-Eleven downstairs. ( no kidding but one of our very close friend did it. Peace and hugs my dear friend, I will not disclose your name ever :) )

Send receive fax, make photo copies, buy magazines, DVDs, cosmetics ( DHC, Maybelline, Burt's Bee, Mentholatum, Herbacin...etc), first-aid, govt garbage bags, sit in the cafe area drinking tea, reading newspaper or surf with free wi-fi, travel toiletries, festival goodies and gifts, umbrellas or simply come and people watch. List is truly endless, as there is a constant introduction of new products and services at my 'extended pantry and lot more' store. Its hard to keep up but I assure you that I will continue to explore them and amaze myself as long as I am here.

Oh but before I conclude this blog there are few tips for y'all.

• Firstly, Never ever give 7-Eleven as a meeting point or as a landmark in your directions when you are in Taiwan. You will be lost for sure.
• Secondly, You have not truly visited Taiwan if you have not visited one of its 7-Eleven.
• Lastly and most importantly, Keep it simple, darling!

Cama Coffee

If you are a type of person who gets kick out of just smell of the coffee without a need to drink it then I highly recommend to go and stand within 100 feet radius of this cool little coffee joint called Cama. The smell of coffee is so strong and inviting that it does free marketing for its brand. You walk towards the smell and you will notice one or two very tiny wooden table with 2-3 tiny stool bars on the side walk by a big pillar. You will always find people sitting there, sipping on their coffee at any time of the day!
The shop behind is completely open and you will see a man grinding fresh coffee at edge of the coffee shop near the pavement, behind him are bunch of sacks of coffee neatly placed on the floor. Now that does explain the coffee smell in the area.
The other thing that you cannot miss is the loud music! They have an excellent music system and they are always playing great music that is perfect to pep you up while you are waiting in the line or waiting for your coffee once you order.
Going back to the décor, its simple, its warm, its catchy. Behind the coffee bean sacks on the wall is several shelfs with coffee makers, coffee mugs and coffee on sale. On the other side of the wall is a wooden shelf serving as a bar table with 3-4 small bar stools. The shelf is also stacked with lots of Taiwanese newspapers and magazines on one corner. Right in front of the shop is the main serving and cash counter which runs wall to wall but its small. If I forgot to mention, this shop is not more than 250 sqft in size )or smaller) where there are at least 6 young smiling baristas are standing at any given time and preparing coffee for you as fast as they can. There is a big menu of coffee right above the counter. They serve all basic types of coffee and tea at a very good price. What I always like to read is the Slimming tea on the menu but I have never tried it yet, smell of the coffee is so good that I cannot take my mind off from coffee and order tea. Once you place your order and pay, you are given a buzzer. When your drink is ready they will buzz you - nothing innovative but I find it very surprising of them to do this for such a tiny little shop.
Now here is the best part about this whole coffee experience. I always settle on the tiny stool inside the shop, pick up my favorite Taiwan Fashion magazine and flip the pages while I listen to some great music. I am always happy at this particular moment, tapping my feet, smelling coffee, watching people standing behind me in line and flipping fashion magazines of which I still do not understand a written word. I remember one time I was so lost in my moment that my buzzer kept ringing and I did not even notice it ( I blamed it on the nice loud music ;) ) Tiny little girl behind the counter gave up on me and somehow managed to walk out of the counter to hand over my cup of fresh cappuccino.

Tiamore Café, He Ping

We decided to walk out of work on a pleasant Dec afternoon in search for that warm smell of coffee. Sun was out today and weather felt nice and crisp after a long cold and wet week. We were on our feet and moving without any prior knowledge of where we are heading. I enjoyed the feeling of exploring the streets, where I had know idea of where I was heading but I was sure I'll keep walking until I find that right warm smell of coffee. I wonder if the explorers feel the same way when they go out on excursions on unknown lands for weeks and months or years.
Well fortunately or not, we did not have to go too far on our exploration. On He-Ping road, not very far from our office we noticed 3 old local men sitting on a table on the side walk and laughing loudly with their cup of coffee! Behind the table was the old western style big glass window, dressed with traditional white curtains and simple Christmas decoration. Smell of coffee was welcoming and so we entered the Tiamore Coffee shop.
At this hour, we were the only patrons in the warm coffee shop apart from the three old men who decided to sit out in the open air. There was a book shelf on the right as we entered, small display of desserts and cakes right in front of us and a coffee bar on the left hand side wall of the shop. I could have taken the interiors for an old tavern or a western bar if it was not serving coffee. There were 8 -10 wooden tables with Red table cloth and wooden chairs neatly lined up by the right hand side wall of the café. Walls were lined up with big sized frames of very diverse things! One of the frame was of Sydney harbour while one more was replica of last supper but with modern White Men and Women instead of Jesus and his disciples. Each table had a little paper lamp and it was decorated with a Christmas tree paper cut-out, cute!
Waiter very promptly filled our glasses with water and gave us the tea time menu. They had tea-time sets of drink and a snack / dessert. They were offering bottom less regular coffee at this hour but other drinks were only by the cup. I must say, they had a pretty elaborate list of teas, chocolate drinks but coffee was left to basic expresso, americano and cappuccino. Well, most of the times I stick to Cappucino for my afternoon drink but sometimes I like to see more options on the menu. Especially in winters, I like the smell of cinnamon or nutmeg or toffee in drink to add the warmth. We ordered our drinks and in due time our drinks were served in nice abstract art cups and a small wooden condiments tray of Cinnomon, chocolate powder and brown sugar. Coffee was very good, not very strong and tasted nice with a dash of cinnamon on the froth.
All delighted and warm, I was ready to head back to work.