Circle K and Sunkus were both convenience store chains with strong ties to Uny, and even after their 2004 merger into Circle K Sunkus, the chain kept an especially dense cluster of stores in Aichi Prefecture — a holdover from Sunkus’ roots as a Uny affiliate. When FamilyMart and the Uny Group merged in 2016, Circle K Sunkus spent the next few years being converted over to FamilyMart, and many of its stores disappeared along the way. In a thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board (an idol-fan forum, of all places), users traded memories of their local stores and favorite items like coffee, meat buns, and beef bowls, along with stories of shops that closed after franchise contract terms changed post-merger.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:21
Sunkus, right around the corner (their old slogan)
6AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:27
Honestly I've got more nostalgia for am/pm.
7AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:27
There was a Sunkus near the rental place I used to live. Brings back memories.
10AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:30
Back in my old apartment there was a Sunkus and a Hot Spar nearby lol (Hot Spar — a regional chain)
13AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:37
Circle K's sweets beat FamilyMart's, honestly.
14AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:38
I worked at their refrigerated warehouse until FamilyMart bought them out.
I liked their discounted bento deals.
15AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:39
Please don't let MINISTOP disappear…
there's no replacing that soft-serve.
38AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:30
Re: #15
Totally get it
Their Halo-Halo is seriously good (a Filipino-style shaved ice dessert)
16AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:40
There were tons of Sunkus near me and I used them all the time,
but the owner had a contract dispute and they all turned into Lawson or something.
17AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:42
These days every industry's been bought up by big corporations and lost its personality — it's boring.
18AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:44
Sunkus, brighter than the stars
47AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:58
Re: #18
Wasn't it 'Three F, brighter than the stars'?
Though Three F's gone too now.
19AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:45
I'm from Nagasaki so I only know 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart,
so it's fun seeing all the different convenience stores when I go to other prefectures.
20AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:46
Their sweets and yakitori were the best of any convenience store.
24AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:02
When I worked there part-time they rolled out a Toshiro Kandagawa bento (2,000 yen I think), but it only sold 2-3 a day, and the owner would take the discarded ones home. (Kandagawa Toshiro is a famous Japanese chef)
25AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:04
There was an insane number of them in Aichi.
Just walking from my house to the station I'd pass three Circle Ks.
Zero of anything else.
27AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:07
They started out as part of the Uny group, so of course there'd be a ton in Aichi.
30AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:11
7-Eleven
Lawson
FamilyMart
MINISTOP
Three F
Sunkus
Circle K
am/pm
There were a bunch in Gunma and I used Sunkus all the time
for breaks and meals.
33AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:16
Their hot snack selection was great.
I used Edy like crazy back when it first launched. (Edy — an early e-money card)
34AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:20
There used to be one right at the bottom of the stairs on the Meiji-dori side of Ebisu Station's west exit, and I went there a lot.
Used to buy their seared shime-saba (vinegar-cured mackerel) and Taiwan-style ramen.
37AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:29
I used to work there part-time.
I was the only one not invited to the staff drinking party and it made me cry.
39AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:31
Convenience stores outside the big three always felt kind of dim inside somehow —
Poplar, Daily Yamazaki, Circle K Sunkus.
41AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:42
That toasted sandwich thing they made was so good, and then FamilyMart just swiped it.
42AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:43
Sunkus' portion-pack coffee was great —
I liked it better than 7-Eleven's freshly ground stuff.
43AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:52
Around 2018 when they merged into FamilyMart,
out of about 10 stores near me, half turned into FamilyMart and half just closed for good.
The owners were probably getting older and wanted out, and the franchise terms probably got worse too.
44AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:53
Sunkus' meat buns were so good though.
48AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:59
One opened up in my dying rural town, and with all the traffic it sold like crazy — they even ran sales — but then it got sandwiched between two Lawsons up and down the street and was done for in no time.
And it was walking distance too…
49AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:00
Their beef bowl used cheap meat,
but it was tasty, generous, and cheap, so I ate it a lot.
This was back before convenience store bentos got all fancy.
50AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:01
The FamilyMarts that used to be Sunkus don't have automatic doors at the entrance.
52AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:02
I have this image of Three F sticking around pretty late, relatively speaking.
53AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:03
Seikatsu Station! Save On! (more regional convenience chains)
54AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:04
I'm an old man past 60 and I've never once set foot in a MINISTOP.
55AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:05
Re: #54
Their soft-serve is amazing, you should go
56AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:06
I remember searching around for surviving stores while Sunkus was vanishing, looking for something you could only get there.
But I can't even remember what that something was,
and now that I'm writing this I'm starting to think it might've actually been Circle K.
58AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:08
Tokachi Niitsu Seimen's cup ramen was pretty good, I think. (a noodle maker)
59AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:17
Back when the yen was strong under the DPJ government, 7-Eleven was just running away with it alone. (DPJ — Japan's ruling party 2009-2012, a period of yen strength)
Background and Talking Points
Both Sunkus and Circle K had strong ties to their parent company Uny, which is why they had such a high store density in Aichi Prefecture (comment 27). Around the same time, the 2010s saw a wave of consolidation among the mid-tier chains outside the ‘big three’ (7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart) — am/pm merged into FamilyMart, while Three F and Poplar joined the Lawson group. Some commenters said stores outside the big three ‘always felt kind of dim’ (comment 39), but each chain also built a loyal following with its own signature products, like portion-pack coffee, meat buns, and soft-serve ice cream. Behind the consolidation seems to be a gap in staying power versus the majors — aging store owners and worsening franchise contract terms (comment 43) among the likely factors.
Leave a Reply