Convenience Store Emoji

A small building with a canopy and often a "24" sign on it. It's a convenience store, the kind that's open at 2am when you need milk, energy drinks, or a snack you'll regret in the morning.

But this emoji has two very different lives depending on which side of the Pacific you're on. In the West, 🏪 means a corner store, a bodega, a 7-Eleven, a Circle K. Functional, sometimes sketchy, the place you go when everywhere else is closed. In Japan, 🏪 represents konbini (コンビニ), which is an entirely different institution. Japanese convenience stores are clean, stocked with restaurant-quality food, and have become one of the country's biggest tourist attractions. There are 57,000 of them. Travel companies now run guided konbini tours. A Lawson in Fujikawaguchiko became so famous for its view of Mount Fuji that the town spent ¥1.3 million on a barrier to block the photo angle.

In texting, 🏪 means a quick run for supplies, late-night errands, or the concept of convenience itself. "BRB 🏪" is a complete thought. It doesn't need explanation.

🏪 has two parallel social media lives. In Japan and among Japan-travel accounts, it's become a food tourism emoji. TikTok is flooded with konbini haul videos, egg sandwich reviews, and famichiki (FamilyMart chicken) taste tests. The #konbini hashtag has hundreds of millions of views. 7-Eleven's egg sandwich (tamago sando) went viral in 2024 and launched in the US. 99.4% of 7-Eleven stores in Japan saw tourist foot traffic in fiscal year 2024.

In New York, 🏪 overlaps with bodega culture. The bodega (Spanish for "warehouse") is a neighborhood institution: 24/7, immigrant-owned, and home to the chopped cheese, bacon-egg-and-cheese, and the bodega cat. New Yorkers have strong opinions about their bodega. Tourists have strong opinions about why they shouldn't call it a "convenience store."

The late-night convenience store run is a universal experience. "2am snack run 🏪" is a caption that works in any country. The emoji signals those slightly desperate, slightly comforting trips where you buy things you don't need in a store that never closes.

The convenience store as a concept began in the United States. Southland Corporation (later 7-Eleven) started selling milk, bread, and eggs from an ice dock in Dallas, Texas in 1927. They named the stores "7-Eleven" in 1946 because they were open from 7am to 11pm, revolutionary hours at the time.

Then Japan got hold of the idea, and it became something else entirely. In 1973, Masatoshi Ito of Ito-Yokado secured a franchise license from Southland to open 7-Eleven stores in Japan. The first Japanese 7-Eleven opened in 1974 in Toyosu, Tokyo. What happened next is one of the great corporate reversals in business history: the student surpassed the teacher so thoroughly that when Southland Corporation went bankrupt in 1991, Ito-Yokado bought 70% of it for $430 million. By 2005, the Japanese company owned 100%. America invented the convenience store. Japan bought it.

Japanese konbini evolved into something American convenience stores never became. They stock fresh sushi, hot oden, restaurant-quality bento, seasonal desserts, and toiletries so specific you could live entirely off konbini purchases for weeks (many people do). They accept bill payments, sell concert tickets, print documents, and serve as 24-hour community infrastructure in a way no Western equivalent matches.

The emoji: 🏪 was added in Unicode 6.0 (2010) and Emoji 1.0 (2015). Most platforms show a small building with a canopy and a "24" sign, reflecting the always-open culture these stores represent.

1. 1927Southland Corporation starts selling essentials from an ice dock in Dallas↗
2. 1946Stores renamed "7-Eleven" for their 7am-11pm hours↗
3. 1974First Japanese 7-Eleven opens in Toyosu, Tokyo. The konbini era begins↗
4. 1991Ito-Yokado buys bankrupt Southland Corp for $430M. The student buys the teacher↗
5. 1994Clerks released. Shot for $27,575 at a real Quick Stop in New Jersey↗
6. 2010🏪 Convenience Store emoji added to Unicode 6.0↗
7. 2024Lawson/Fuji barrier built; 99.4% of Japan 7-Elevens see tourist traffic↗

In Japan, the konbini is a cultural institution. With 57,000 stores across the country, there's a 7-Eleven, Lawson, or FamilyMart within walking distance of almost everywhere. The food is fresh, rotated multiple times daily, and held to standards that most Western restaurants would struggle to match. The tamago sando (egg sandwich) uses shokupan milk bread and a filling so creamy it went viral when it launched in the US. Travel companies now run guided konbini tours through Shinjuku. Konbini tourism took off after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when foreign journalists discovered the food.

In New York, the equivalent is the bodega. There are roughly 13,000 bodegas in the city, mostly immigrant-owned, open 24/7, and home to the bodega cat (the unofficial mascot). The chopped cheese and the bacon-egg-and-cheese are bodega originals. New Yorkers judge each other by their bodega loyalty.

In the broader US, convenience stores (7-Eleven, Wawa, Sheetz, Buc-ee's, Casey's) are more utilitarian. They're gas station adjacents, road trip stops, and late-night emergency suppliers. The food quality varies from "fine" to "why did I do this." The exception is Buc-ee's in Texas, which has become a tourist attraction in its own right with its own following.

The reverse acquisition is the detail that ties everything together. America invented the convenience store in 1927. Japan licensed it in 1973. Japan made it better. Japan bought the American company when it went bankrupt in 1991. Japan now owns 7-Eleven. 85,000 stores in 20 countries, headquartered in Tokyo.

• •Japan has 57,000 convenience stores. There are 7-Elevens, Lawsons, and FamilyMarts within walking distance of almost everywhere in the country. 7-Eleven alone has 21,668 stores in Japan, 2,824 in Tokyo.
• •The 7-Eleven egg sandwich (tamago sando) launched in the US in 2024 after going viral on TikTok. Made with shokupan milk bread and cloud-like egg filling, it costs 300 yen ($2) in Japan. The gap between Japanese and American convenience store food quality became a meme.
• •Kevin Smith shot Clerks for $27,575) at the Quick Stop where he actually worked, filming from 10:30pm to 5:30am because the store was open during the day. The shutters are down the whole movie because it was night. The film is now in the National Film Registry.
• •New York has roughly 13,000 bodegas, most with a resident cat that sleeps on the counter. Bodega cats ignore health codes, guard the chips, and have their own Instagram accounts.
• •A pair of ¥300 ($2) striped socks from FamilyMart became Japan's hottest tourist souvenir in 2025, as reported by CNN. A convenience store became a fashion destination.
• •Southland Corporation (7-Eleven's American parent) went bankrupt in 1991 and was bought by its Japanese franchisee for $430 million. By 2005, Japan owned it entirely. 7-Eleven now has 85,000 stores in 20 countries, headquartered in Tokyo.

• •Clerks) (1994): Kevin Smith's $27,575 debut film, shot entirely at a real Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, where he actually worked. He filmed from 10:30pm to 5:30am because the store was open during the day. The shutters are down the whole movie because they were filming at night. "I'm not even supposed to be here today" became the rallying cry of retail workers everywhere. The film was selected for the National Film Registry in 2019.
• •The Lawson/Mount Fuji barrier (2024): a Lawson convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko became one of Japan's most unlikely tourist attractions because 🗻 Mount Fuji appeared to sit on its roof from a specific angle. The photo went viral globally. The town spent ¥1.3 million on a barrier. Tourists poked camera-sized holes in it within a week.
• •The reverse acquisition (1991): America's Southland Corporation invented 7-Eleven and the modern convenience store. Japan's Ito-Yokado licensed the franchise in 1973, made it better, and then bought the bankrupt American parent company for $430 million in 1991. By 2005, Japan owned it entirely. It's the most polite corporate takeover in history.
• •The tamago sando going global: 7-Eleven Japan's egg sandwich, made with shokupan milk bread and cloud-like egg filling, went viral on TikTok and launched in US 7-Eleven stores in 2024. The contrast between the Japanese version (fluffy, fresh, 300 yen) and the typical American convenience store sandwich (stale, suspicious, $5) became a meme about the gap between konbini and Western convenience stores.
• •Konbini guided tours (2024-present): travel companies in Tokyo now run group tours through 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart, teaching tourists what to buy and how the stores work. The concept of a "convenience store tour" would be absurd anywhere else in the world. In Japan, it's booked solid.
• •The bodega cat: New York bodegas are famous for having a resident cat that sleeps on the counter, guards the chips, and ignores health regulations. The cats have their own Instagram accounts and are considered an essential part of the bodega experience. There's an entire documentary about them.
• •FamilyMart socks (2025): a pair of ¥300 ($2) striped socks from FamilyMart became Japan's hottest tourist souvenir, reported by CNN. The socks went viral on social media because they're comfortable, cheap, and distinctly Japanese. A convenience store became a fashion destination.

• •U+1F3EAU+1F3EA CONVENIENCE STORE. No variation selector needed. Stable since Unicode 6.0.
• •Common shortcodes: :convenience_store::convenience_store: (Slack, Discord, GitHub).
• •Don't confuse with U+1F3ECU+1F3EC 🏬 DEPARTMENT STORE or U+1F6D2U+1F6D2 🛒 SHOPPING CART. Different scales of retail.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.