CONVENIENCE STORES GO HYBRIDコンビニ集客にあの手この手

Convenience store chains in Japan are looking for ways to boost sales amid fierce competition. In a bid to attract customers, companies are branching out with new business tie-ups.
Japan's biggest chain, Seven-Eleven, recently launched a bicycle-sharing service in partnership with Softbank. Bikes can be reserved online, then picked up and dropped off at any affiliated store. Seven-Eleven Japan plans to expand the service to 1,000 outlets nationwide.
The second largest chain in Japan, Family Mart, has a slightly different strategy. It plans to open a store with a 24-hour fitness club directly above it in February, and another with a laundromat service next spring.
The No. 3 chain, Lawson, has been offering nursing care consultation services since 2015. The company now provides the service at more than 10 stores. Advice from certified nursing care workers or care managers is available free of charge.
◆in a bid to ～しようとして
◆branch out 事業の手を広げる
◆affiliated 提携関係の
◆outlet 店舗、小売店
◆nursing care 介護

Daily Vocabulary(2017/12/27)

20941.in the face of adversity(困難に直面して）
Laughing in the face of adversity with a Physical Therapist.
20942.sign up(参加申し込みする）
I signed up as a volunteer with a tutoring group that helps kids with their homework.
20943.foster innovation(イノベーションを促進する）
How libraries have found a new role as a new role as foster innovation.
20944.straight－A student（全優の学生）
You can be straight－A student、I guess.
20945.a thing of past(過去のもの）
I'd had the impression that libraries were coming a thing of past.

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