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Famima!! Will Be Closing All Stores By The End Of The Month
Union Station's Famima!! location, before it officially opened in 2010 (Photo by Sean Rouse via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
Famima!!, the Japanese convenience store whose name always emphatically announces their presence and is a purveyor of delicious onigiri rice balls, will sadly close all U.S. locations by the end of the month. Famima :(The first to go, it seems, was the Third Street Promenade location, which closed at the end of September. The Toddrickallen blog has photos of the closed spot, and also points toward a Nikkei story (in Japanese) that confirms that FamilyMart, the Japanese convenience store giant that owns Famima!!, is pulling out of the United States. According to Eater L.A., the stores will all be shuttered by the end of October.
The Famima!! chain first arrived in the L.A. area around a decade ago and quickly expanded to several stores throughout the region. The upscale and clean stores, which Jonathan Gold once described as "an expanded version of a luxury hotel minibar" in L.A. Weekly, provided people with a convenient place to pick up Japanese snacks and iced teas. There was no need for the trips to Sawtelle Japantown, the South Bay, or Little Tokyo to stock up anymore.
The chain is now down to just seven downtown locations. Certainly we'll be able to find Japanese snacks and goodies elsewhere in town, but we'll miss the convenience.
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