First Japanese Krispy Kreme to open this week

After five months of preparation, the first Krispy Kreme Japan doughnut shop is set to open this Friday, December 15. It's located on Shinjuku Southern Terrace, which is directly across the street from the south exit of Shinjuku JR Station (according to the map on Krispy Kreme Japan's website, it can be found just before the pedestrian bridge that conneccts Southern Terrace to the Takashimaya Department Store).

According to reports, the store is 290 sq. meters in size (fairly large for Japan). To start, the brand will offer just 12 varieties of doughnuts, with more to be added later.

As I mentioned back in July, they may have a hard time of it unless they are able to customize their operations for Japan. We'll just have to wait and see if they've learned from the past mistakes of other brands and can find a way to continually satisfy finicky Japanese consumers.

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Comments

[Don]

Apparently they were able to satisfy Japanese tastes: I passed by store in Shinjuku a few times in mid-May and line was as long as ever both in the morning and evening. In fact line zig zags a few times in front of store and then stretches across a 100Meter foot bridge. Pictures can be found on Flickr by searching "Krispy Kreme Shinjuku"

[Mike Fiorella]

Don:

The issue is long-term survival. Strong initial interest is not, by any means, proof of "success." I have first-hand experience with more than one international brand that led the market for the entire first year after launch and then got crushed by Japanese competition.

The key question is whether KK has a real long-term strategy. In my mind it's far too soon to make that judgement.

[s]

there was also the case of Quiznos sub sandwich shops, which arrived in Tokyo a few years ago with big hoopla and later pulled out, meekly, but not before cutting a lot of corners, product- and staffing-wise. Also Cinnabon. How can Krispy Kreme be anything more than a fad? Their product was largely favored by obese people on the U.S. East Coast for years, and there's already mucho competitionfor them here.

[lyle]

I walked by there just yesterday, and the line was as long as it's ever been. Maybe it won't survive outside of Shinjuku... but it's doing just fine there by all appearances. And this is now 9 months since it opened