From what used to be over 700 Yen to as low as 298 Yen!!
A slowdown in economy has taken effect on department store. "People spend less", "there are very few shoppers", "fewer people go to department store" ... these slumber conditions force department stores to take a new strategy to draw customers attention by introducing extremely cheap bento. In the case of department stores, these bento are like lost leader, made not to make profit but mainly to attract customers to come.
A staff in charge at the department store said on an interview that "the more we make these bento, the less profit we make ... we can actually lose mony... but we have to do it as a strategy to bring customers back".
Following the same strategy are convenient stores and chain stores, like Seiyu (which is now owned and run by Walmart), where they introduce good quality bento at a very cheap price.
In the past I used to tell friends that food in Japan is expensive, well.... that may not be the case now, if you buy these bento. They are indeed extremely cheap for such a quantity and quality - consider they are made and sold in Japan!
Watch a video below (in Japanese) about how department stores in Japan fight the battle of surviving through bargaining bento boxes :
That is really cheap... too bad we can't get that in our Walmart here in the US.
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