The time is 2:00 midnight
Off-peak shopping
Seiyu, which has many 24-hour stores, is calling for "off-peak shopping" to avoid busy hours around noon and evening and to shop during vacant hours. Measures that do not create situations such as closed, dense, and close. So I went shopping at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night.
I visited a store in Tokyo in late April. Check in advance whether it is open 24 hours a day from the official website before heading. Even at 2am, the streets are lit up, but they aren't very popular and I'm a little nervous. I just walked and arrived.
There are only one or two customers in the store. On the other hand, more than 10 staff members were busy working to replenish and clean the products.
Therefore, although it is very vacant, it is not the atmosphere of shopping in an empty shop. However, the atmosphere is completely different from the daytime supermarket.
Even a very small number of customers were properly informed by the in-store broadcast, calling attention to wait for a while as the store could not make payments for a few minutes just before 2 pm due to preparations on the store side. For the time being, bring a shopping basket and go around each corner.
Fruits and vegetables
About half of the fruits and vegetables are empty
The fruit and vegetable corner is half empty before replenishment and half full. There is no popular banana, but tomatoes are lined up.
Meat
Beef and pork were mainly expensive, and chicken was cheap.
In the meat corner, more than half of the products are still in the state before replenishment. Most of the beef and pork were expensive, and there were also cheaper chickens besides branded chickens.
fresh fish
There are various fillets
There is almost no sashimi in the fresh fish corner. Many fillets are lined up.
Soy products
More than half of the bean products are empty, but you can buy one.
As for soybean products, tofu and fried tofu are still more than half empty, but you can still buy all kinds of soybean products. However, none of the popular natto brands were unique.
Powder products
There are some empty shelves for flour products, but flour was both strong and weak. Not bad for those who enjoy baking bread at home.
Powerful for those who bake bread (a little expensive)
Dairy products
There is plenty of milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. Butter is scarce. The salt-free was out of stock
Dairy products are about half empty, but we have a complete lineup. There are milk, yogurt and cheese. But the popular butter is a little scarce. There was salt, but the salt-free, which is indispensable for those who enjoy baking sweets at home, is sold out.
Instant noodles
Easy instant noodles that are also useful as preserved foods. While there was a lot of cup noodles left, more than half of the bag noodles were empty. However, if you are not particular about the brand or flavor, you can buy only what you need.
The bag noodle shelves are quite empty
Bento
Expecting lunch during this time is a bit strict
Only a few bento boxes are left. I can't really count on this time for a midnight snack.
Paper products
Kitchen paper is in stock
I also went around the shelves of paper products. Kitchen paper is in stock on display. There is no toilet paper. It seems that this time has not been replenished yet. Unfortunately, the masks are not in stock in the first place.
Toilet paper is not replenished during this time
Even if each person rolls one by one, everyone still sells
Masks are not in stock in the first place
Seiyu at 2 o'clock midnight is replenishing products
In conclusion, Seiyu at 2:00 pm is the time when product replenishment begins to flourish. Not everything you want is available. The shop staff are working while talking to each other, so somehow I feel reluctant.
However, since it is vacant like a different world from the daytime, I felt that it was effective in avoiding congestion. If you're going to do off-peak shopping next time, I'll try the early morning hours.