Another convenience store next to the convenience store… 'Distance agreement' but mana

<Anchor>

Two convenience stores from different companies came into the new building.

As competition intensified in the convenience store industry, two years ago, they signed an autonomous contract with the government to refrain from opening convenience stores at close distances, which is not being well kept in reality.

First, reporter No. Gyu covered the site.

<Reporter> This is a

recently completed residential-commercial building in Incheon.

There is a placard to announce the opening of a convenience store.

Although the scheduled opening date has passed for a long time, construction was stopped at the headquarters of the convenience store affiliates.

The reason that the store was delayed is because it was belatedly recognized that another convenience store had signed a contract next door.

[E-Mart 24 member store owner: (As the member head office says) I signed a contract with GS25 in ○○○ and two cannot fit in one building, so please stop the construction, knowing that the person who acquired the cigarette sales right takes precedence...

.]

[GS25 Franchise Owner: "Let's make a contract" after visiting us from GS...

It was a condition for GS to come in only to get a cigarette ticket, and if you can't, GS doesn't.] You

can see that there are two

people who would like to

contract a convenience store even if you check only in the sales office, but neither GS25 nor E-Mart 24 do so. I signed a contract.

[GS Retail official: (Merchant owner) You came to the sale at your own discretion and gave it to us.]

[E-Mart 24 officials: where and when the contract was signed, and each other does not know.]

According to the self-regulation created by the convenience store industry in December 2018, the franchise headquarters fully informs the franchise applicants of the commercial area information and provides the right to sell cigarettes from the local government. Considering the distance from which this appears, close branches should be avoided, but this has not been observed.

[Kim Joo-ho/Participation Solidarity Minsheng Hope Headquarters Team Leader: (Convenience store head office) would have responded so effortlessly even though it was said to open a direct store.

Of course, it is basic to analyze the business district or the expected sales or these things.

Now come, it's irresponsible to say'I didn't know'...

.]

The head offices of the two convenience stores are putting their hands on saying that the two store owners should take care of who the cigarette sales right goes to.

The two franchisees, who had even received loans and opened convenience stores, are now looking at the local government's cigarette sales ticket lottery.

(Video editing: Park Ji-in·Lee Seung-jin, CG: Lee Yoo-jin·Park Hyun-jin, VJ: Park Hyun-woo)

<Anchor> I

will talk with reporter No.Gyu Noh who covered this and continue.

[Reporter Noh Dong-gyu: Now, haven't the two convenience store companies have reached the official opening yet? Isn't it that the first among the two franchisees wanting to get a cigarette retailer should be the first?

However, if you look at the contents of the voluntary agreement they concluded in December 2018, the affiliate headquarters must provide sufficient information on the commercial district as much as possible to the applicants.

This could even include who will compete in the place where the candidates want to join.

However, the store owners are told to do it on their own.

In addition, the self-regulation is applied only when the existing commercial district is infringed, but this is not the case in a completely new commercial district.

Cr rattling who receive pre-sale loans to the mall owners are under little pressure in such a situation you want to, splitters applying high probability of breaking down the smoke dealership shops room he had received pre-sale].

[nodonggyu Reporter: Street In fact, it was not the case that kept it, in this case.

Because, in fact, the right to sell cigarettes is a licensed business of the country, so even if you try to sell it in retail, people with certain qualifications will sell it at a certain distance in accordance with the ordinances of each local government.

That's why, in fact, cigarettes sometimes reach nearly 40% of convenience store sales.

So, if you don't get the right to sell cigarettes, there are many cases where no one wants to open a convenience store at all.

So, if you apply this retail street mutatis mutandis, you have been protecting the street with or without this sales right, but in a way, convenience stores are.

However, in this case, it does not mean that they are not being observed now, and there is also an industry claim that, in a way, they did not have the will to resolve the overcrowded distance a little in a way to determine the distance to be opened based on the distance that was originally kept. It's coming out, and now, if you get this ticket at all, you can ignore the street at all.

I will introduce it in the next report.]

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An alley in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

There are only 4 convenience stores facing each other within a 2-minute walk, less than 5m wide and 150m long.

GS25, 7-Eleven, and E-Mart 24 are operating only 40-80m away from this CU convenience store, which opened last month.

Still, there were many convenience stores in a narrow alley, and competition was fierce, but as a new convenience store was opened, nearby convenience store owners are crying that their sales have decreased.

[Neighboring convenience store owner A: (Sales) have fallen a lot, now.

It must be said that we lose about 300,000 won a month...

.]

[Mr. B, the manager of a nearby convenience store: I think the tobacco side, the coffee type, and that side fell a lot.

It's bitter to not kill each other, but it's bitter.]

CU headquarter claims that it is not a new store, but because there was a store that closed a year ago in the vicinity, it is equivalent to moving the existing store.

There is no problem because the local ward office also gave you retail cigarettes.

Earlier, the Gwangjin-gu Office approved the sale of cigarettes by saying that this narrow road is a'driveway' and calculated that crowded convenience stores can only cross crosswalks.

This is the site where the self-regulation based on whether or not the franchisee has received the right to sell cigarettes is becoming ineffective rather than questioning whether the franchisees actually violated the commercial rights.

[Shin Ki-dong/Gyeonggi Research Institute Research Fellow: Since I have to deal with cigarettes, most of them are opening stores apart according to those standards, realistically.

It doesn't mean much to talk about it as a self-regulation, and up to 100m or 200m if you have the will

.] The

Korea Convenience Store Industry Association, which is the subject of self-regulation, is in the position to deliberate on such a close-up store opening only when the head offices of the convenience store are concerned.

The FTC, which approved the voluntary agreement, said it would look for ways to protect the rights and interests of actual franchisees by checking the status of nearby stores.