Japanese convenience stores really do have everything, even your luggage.
The variety at Japanese convenience stores truly is amazing. Take 7-Eleven Japan, for example, which offers everything from matcha burritos to sakura lipstick blessed by a 300-year-old Kyoto temple. Want even more proof that 7-Eleven has everything? They might even have your luggage.
And I mean that literally when I say “your luggage,” as 7-Eleven can literally have your suitcases at their shops during your Japan travels. Thanks to a new partnership with luggage storage service Ecbo Cloak, as of this week hundreds of branches of 7-Eleven Japan will now let you drop your bags off and have them stored while you go out sightseeing for the day.
This is actually a really handy service for travelers in Japan, since trying to lug or roll large bags around popular sightseeing spots, as well as on and off the modes of public transportation you need to ride to get there, can be a tiring hassle, as well as an inconvenience on the local Japanese population if your luggage is especially bulky. While some major train stations have large coin-operated storage lockers, space is still limited, and there’s no way to know if any lockers are still available until you’re actually at the station, at which point it might be too late to figure out an alternative plan if every locker is already taken.
With Ecbo Cloak, though, you reserve storage ahead of time using the service’s website or app, so you can be absolutely certain that someone will be there to accept your bags at drop-off. The service started out partnering with shops and restaurants, but with 7-Eleven now getting onboard, the service can be used 24 hours a day.
Bags are stored in the 7-Eleven branches’ back storage areas, where they’re safe and secure. There are two price tiers for the service, with suitcase-size item storage costing 800 yen (US$5.25) per day and “bag-size” items, defined by Ecbo Cloak as “any type of luggage with a longest side of 45 centimeters (17 inches) or less,” such as backpacks, handbags, and shopping bags, are 500 yen a day (fee charges roll over to a second day at midnight). Ecbo Cloak is also happy to store items such as baby strollers and musical instruments, which, by nature of their size, are counted as “suitcase-size.”
7-Eleven is initially offering the service at 378 branches in 26 prefectures including Tokyo, Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. Ecbo Cloak in total has partner locations in over 1,000 places from one end of Japan to the other, including Okinawa, so depending on customer response we could see the service expand to even more 7-Eleven branches, or possibly even other convenience store chains too.
Related: Ecbo Cloak official website
Source: PR Times via Jiji via Yahoo! Japan News
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