
In Shanghai, a prototype of a new 24-hour convenience store (2017) - tintor
https://www.fastcompany.com/40429419/this-tiny-grocery-store-is-mobile-self-driving-and-run-by-ai
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Animats
There are several startups in China doing that. BingoBox has a very similar
setup.[1] Wheels, too. Bodega had a similar concept for the US, but at vending
machine size, not shipping container size. The optimum size for these things
isn't clear yet. It does make possible a convenience store too small to
justify a full time employee.

Amazon will probably combine these with Amazon lockers and take over the
industry in the US. If the convenience store doesn't have it, you'll be able
to order anything Amazon stocks delivered to a locker.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYN3gozk4fo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYN3gozk4fo)

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alister
Oddly, Brazil doesn't have 24-hour convenience stores[1]. Labor is very cheap
and there are plenty of 24-hour gasoline stations, restaurants, bars, and
pharmacies. But if you want a large bag of nuts or microwave popcorn or a
banana at midnight in Sao Paulo, in an urban area of 12,000,000 people, you
won't find it. (Well, unless you drive a long way to one of the few 24-hour
hypermarkets, but that's not convenience.)

I can't think of any business or cultural reason why it doesn't exist there.
Maybe it's chicken-and-egg -- the public desire for convenience stores and the
availability of lots of convenience stores -- have to co-evolve.

[1]
[http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Common_in_the_USA_and...](http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Common_in_the_USA_and_Canada_but_rare_in_Brazil)

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victornomad
I guess is cultural, maybe people dont need microwave popcorn or a banana at
midnight!

Having grown up in a rather small city and moved to bigger cities later on, I
found it kind of funny how people go almost religously to the 7eleven to buy
late night nuts and a can of coke (or something else). When I lived in Japan
even sad... you have convenience stores everywhere, and people just go there
because they get trapped in a habbit of buying a "melon bread" and a "vitamin
drink" on the way back home daily fully replacing a real dinner

I think convenience stores create a need rather than solving something en many
cases... they just sell junk food that make people addicted to come back again
and again to get those flavors...

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jpatokal
The food sold in Japanese convinience stores is head and shoulders above those
of most countries though: you can get bento boxes, salads, onigiri rice balls,
basic sushi, etc. Not exactly gourmet fare, and there's junk if you want that
too, but way less than in the average US or European convenience store.

------
Someone
_”The biggest costs to have a store are the place itself to rent in a central
city–it’s ultra-expensive–and then staff is really expensive, and we’re
removing both of these at the same time”_

Isn’t parking for long hours already about as expensive as renting a store
and/or parking commercial vehicles to run a shop illegal in Shanghai? If not,
I would find it fair if the government would tax people for taking up that
much parking space for long hours. It also is likely they will, or all parking
space in city centers would be taken over by vendors.

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YeGoblynQueenne
The title is misleading. The store is not self-driving:

 _The system is also designed to restock itself automatically. In a city, one
Moby could self-drive to a warehouse to replenish itself while another takes
its place (the current model can be controlled remotely or driven by a human;
the designers are still finalizing the autonomous technology, and it’s not yet
legal for it to drive itself on Chinese roads)._

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dang
That entire title seems unsalvageable, so we replaced it with the first part
of the first sentence, in keeping with the HN guideline to change the title if
it's misleading or linkbait.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

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gumby
AKA a vending machine on wheels.

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knieveltech
* A vending machine the size of a small convenience store, on wheels

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gumby
Have you seen the vending machines in Japan?

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knieveltech
No I have not. Do they have a similar form factor?

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rmason
In Michigan I could see this being quite successful in rural towns, quite a
few lack a convenience store and might be a fifteen mile drive or longer from
a full supermarket.

I am doubtful this would work in inner city Detroit at all.

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konschubert
I have only skimmed the article but I'm confident it's riddled with catches.

I bet it's not actually driving itself through traffic on public roads and it
isn't actually managed by AI.

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icebraining
The key line is _" When autonomous vehicles are allowed on roads"_. There's no
actual self-driving store out on the streets.

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bmlevy9
I could see someone like a Postmates making an investment in building one of
these types of products

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Hydraulix989
Hm, reminds me of Bodega.

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jbrambleDC
Cyberpunk

