Convenient for women

Combining what our sister site trendwatching.com calls ‘Forever Trends’ (as in trends that will remain trends forever), Japanese convenience store Happily exclusively targets women. The thinking behind this concept? Convenience in a time-compressed world is priceless, and products specifically tailored to, oh, half of the earth’s population, make sense. In Happily’s own words, the stores are ‘of, for and by women’. The first outlet, located in Tokyo’s Toranomon business district, offers cosmetics and nutritional supplements. Only 20 percent of the products are the same as those at conventional am/pm outlets. Clerks are all women, except at night. To enable women (and especially female office managers) to have fun and relax while shopping, the store not only offers a wide range of skin-care products and dietary supplements, but also boasts a lavish powder room with a dressing table, full-length mirror, and stool for changing stockings. Aromatic oils are used to scent the air. The Happily store is owned by am/pm, which last year also launched am/pm enta, a chain of outlets that offer DVD rentals and book sales in addition to traditional convenience store fare. Like so many other concepts from Japan, a strong focus tells a story straight away: it’s not exactly hard to understand what Happily is about, and that’s a holy grail in a world of INNOVATION OVERLOAD. Check out a few other concepts that cater to women only: beer, taxi cabs, banks, tools, and see which trends you can add to the mix to create something new. Or just bring Happily to New York, Frankfurt, Singapore… Female office workers around the world will cherish a bit of customised love.