I spent 2 months thinking about vending machines; and by end of it was having a near breakdown every time I walked by one on the street since I missed 2 deadlines on the story... anyway here is the result and a small thread! First piece for @CityLab https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-10-13/japan-vending-machines-at-risk-of-becoming-retro-vintage-novelty?sref=V906pjsH

There are nearly 3 million vending machines in Japan but business hasn’t been great—they’ve been hurting as 24/7 convenience stores proliferated & Covid made it worse as ppl stayed in, deserted dense city centers. Beverage sales fell 30+% earlier this year at vending machines

Now there’s more pressure for a survival strategy, and there may be more incentive to do so here — in Japan the machines are owned by big business (like Coca-Cola Bottlers, Suntory, etc) whereas in other parts of the world they tend to be operated by small independent guys.

Part of that just means investing to make the vending biz more efficient like real time inventory monitoring (not v exciting). They’re also throwing in new merch like face masks & stockings (fun but not scalable). There’s even been a pitch to use them as data centers.

Best part was interviewing people involved in retro vending machine attractions in Japan. Business in this area has been good! We went to visit one in Sagamihara. Some of my faves... machines for curry, popcorn. The owner fashions spare parts himself to repair them.

And ending with a video of a vending machine making my kitsune soba lunch for 300 yen in 27 seconds