This Nation Has the Cutest 7-11 within the World

I used to be strolling in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District with my mother and father a few years in the past after we all began squealing—the part of the lined sidewalk we had been passing by had immersed us in a Peanuts wonderland. Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Linus, Schroeder, Franklin, and Lucy had been lined up alongside the wall whereas an enormous Snoopy skateboarded above. Certain, cutesy shops are widespread in Taiwan, however this wasn’t a memorabilia store—it was a 7-11, or as locals confer with it, merely “Seven.” 

All throughout Taiwan, sure 7-11 shops have taken on themed personas, as You Journey Singapore shared in a social media put up. In Taipei, you may discover there are retailers decked out in Mickey Mouse, Sanrio and Howdy Kitty, Summiko Gurashi, Maserti, and even Lay’s Potato Chips themes.

And we’re not simply speaking about wallpaper. These shops go all in, with outsized Snoopy and Kanahei Small Animals characters sitting in seats alongside clients, a show case made within the form of a Lays van, and to-go cups themed round favourite characters. There’s loads of merch on the market, too. Briefly, it’s like a mini theme park which doubles as a 7-11.

On high of that, comfort shops in Taiwan are nothing like their counterparts within the U.S. Comfort shops like 7-11 (in addition to related retailers like FamilyMart, Hello-Life, and OK Mart), aren’t simply plentiful in Taiwan, they’re an vital a part of every day life. Have to pay your parking ticket? Purchase a live performance or prepare ticket? Ship a bundle between cities? I’ve executed all of these items, in addition to pop in for a morning ginger shot or a late-night soft-service ice cream at a 7-11.

Plus, you may all the time depend on the 7-11 having a clear restroom and a quiet place to relaxation. It really is a comfort retailer. 

Throughout my two months in Taiwan in 2023, it wasn’t uncommon for me to pop right into a comfort retailer three to 5 instances a day. The costs are low, the standard is excessive, and all the pieces is about ease. Plus, there’s nothing to complain about on the subject of customer support—staffers go above and past. After I purchased too many souvenirs in my grandmother’s hometown of Beigang and needed to ship some again to Taipei, they helped me with packaging and taping—and the field acquired to the capital earlier than I did. After I purchased a ticket to see one in every of my favourite Irish boy bands Westlife play on the Taipei Music Heart, I couldn’t work out the best way to get my tickets on the automated machine, they usually walked me by it. When my dad and I had been craving mushy serve after midnight, however the machine was off, the 7-11 worker made positive we acquired our candy deal with. 

Since these shops are so built-in into every day Taiwanese tradition, it’s no surprise that the island nation began including a dose of whimsical enjoyable to sure places. Although the lovable collaborations reportedly originated in Taiwan—and there’s little doubt that the island has probably the most themed shops—now the pattern is spreading across the globe with a boat-shaped 7-11 in Pattaya, Thailand, and a bigger-is-better one in Texas.

However being from a household of Snoopy followers (who’ve nerded out on the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Snoopy House Ice in Santa Rosa, California) the Snoopy 7-11 has a particular place in my household’s coronary heart, because it mixed two of our obsessions: comfort and enjoyable.