saddleblasters I was surprised seeing this pop up in my notifications just now (Brandon liked it), because (1) I forgot I wrote it, and (2) I was sitting in a C-Store eating an egg sandwich when I saw the notification. I guess now that I’ve been in China for nearly a year, I have some more to say about this:
C-Store is definitely my favorite of the convenience store chains in Shanghai. The other three major ones (FamilyMart, Lawson and 7-Eleven) are all Japanese, then there’s a few smaller ones like AllDays (好得) and Buddies (良友). All of these feel pretty much the same to me, except for Buddies, whose stores are all older, sell baskets of eggs, don’t have as many refrigerators, but have big shelves lining the back of the stores with unrefrigerated beverages I’ve never seen sold anywhere else, so it holds a special place in my heart, despite not being my favorite. C-Stores on the other hand have a very distinctive interior, with what looks to be some kind of Italian ruins wallpaper, and big ornate painted-black metal fences separating off the eating areas the stores have. It also has the best egg sandwich, which is in stock at every store I’ve been to. Instead of the usual egg salad thing most other convenience stores have (which are often sold out), it’s a “three kinds of egg” sandwich (I’ll let you imagine what the three kinds are – but I’ll at the very least assure you none of them are egg salad).
The reason I didn’t remember seeing any in Beijing is that there aren’t very many to begin with, especially not in 2018. In Beijing 7-Eleven is a lot more common. (This has actually come up naturally in conversation without me having to ask people.)
Anyway, that’s it for my C-Store update. Maybe I’ll have another a year from now. It was surprising suddenly being reminded of my first encounter (11 months ago) with this store chain that has become such a regular feature of my life.