In Hirosaki City, the reuse of the former convenience store stores is being promoted.

According to a survey by the editorial department of Hirosaki Keizai Shimbun, there are currently 88 convenience stores in the city, the most common being 38 at Lawson, followed by 31 at FamilyMart, and 16 at Seven-Eleven. ..

In Aomori prefecture, the reorganization of convenience stores has made great progress in recent years. In June 2015, when "Seven-Eleven" opened the first store in the prefecture, it expanded to 87 stores in the prefecture in three years, and it is said that it will be opened in Hirosaki city and its surroundings.

In June 2016, the conversion of "Circle K" and "Thanks" to "Family Mart" began, the renovation to Family Mart proceeded in the city, and finally "Hirosaki Miyagawa 2-chome store" (Miyakawa, Hirosaki City) 2018 In September, "Circle K" and "Sunkus" in the city were all closed.

Lawson not only opened new stores, but also opened existing stores that had convenience stores. In addition, S Hirosaki Kensei Hospital Store (Ogimachi) opened in August 2017 and S Hirosaki City Hall opened in February of the same year. It is characterized by the opening of stores in facilities such as "shops" (Kamishirogincho).

On the other hand, some stores have withdrawn. There were four "Ministop" stores in the city, but "Katada 2-chome store" (Katada) closed in February last year, and "Hondaimae store" (Tominocho) closed in December. The “Katada 2-chome store” is still a vacant tenant, and the “Hongdae store” has become a parking lot.

Masato Sudo of Hirosaki's real estate company, “Summeru Real Estate” (Waseda), said, “The empty stores at convenience stores are popular for restaurants and coin laundry because of the location where the conditions for attracting customers are good and the large stores are easy to use. Then, there are cases in which it is used in cram schools and, recently, there are also beauty salons.”

"Yamato Stone" (Sakaiseki), which opened in September last year on the site of "Circle K Hirosaki Sakaiseki", has its main branch in Aomori City and opened its first branch in Hirosaki. Atsushi Miura, Sales Manager, said, “Not only is it in a good location in the center of the Tsugaru area such as Kuroishi and Hirakawa, but it is also close to the bypass. We were able to quickly create a space for exhibiting gravestones, and there was almost no need for renovation.” I look back.

“In the case of a general rental store, it is often difficult to rent because the interior cannot be refurbished due to the owner's intentions and there is a lack of facilities such as a parking lot. In that respect, empty stores at convenience stores can be laid out freely and parked. It's easy to rent because there is a parking lot,” says Sudo.

"The problem is rent. The rent for vacant properties in convenience stores is high at the national level. It may be that sales at convenience stores are high, but I feel a difference from renters in rural areas," he said.