I took this picture about a month ago, and at that time it was still too late. This is a picture of a bakery chain in Taiwan that I really like. This particular picture is of a new location that opened up about three months ago. The reason I took this picture initially is because it used to be packed when it first opened, and that is interesting because it illustrated a common habit of Taiwanese, that they hardly ever leave their neighborhood. Allow me to explain...
While this bakery chain has been spreading around the city for the past year or so, the first time I ever had it was by the local subway station, which is about a seven minute walk away. That store does pretty good business, not lighting the world on fire, but still more than well enough to survive. It was quite strange when this new location opened up because it is about a five minute walk from the old one. However for the first month or so, this location was packed, i mean line out the door packed. The reason being that so many people had never been there before or even heard of it. It seems almost unbelievable, given that the other one is just a five minute walk away, but none of them had never even heard of that location.
This is because in Taipei each little neighborhood is almost identical to the next. while the look may be different, the stores that are there are pretty much the same. You can go to almost any part of the city and expect to see the exact same noodle shops, rice shops, soup stands, breakfast shops, convenience stores, super markets, cafes, bakeries, "everything for a dollar" stores, electronics stores, etc. Granted there are exceptions for areas of the city that are famous for having a lot of stores that sell one thing (an area that is famous for a lot of camera stores, comes to mind) but even locations like that also have the same ole stores as everywhere else.
Because of this, many people (especially the older generations, and children) hardly ever leave their own neighborhood. I actually can appreciate a city where everything somebody could ever need is located within a short walk from their house. And it actually makes finding new, special, or unique gems around the city, that much sweeter. Not to mention this system can sustain common stores and restaurants, allowing many to have a successful business off of a common and tested idea. however as mentioned two days ago, this kind of hurts unique places (such as burger joints) in that if people are going to try something new or travel someplace to eat, they want to try the popular one.
Getting back to the picture though, you can see that I was too late to take a picture of it when it was new and super busy. It has since cooled off. And now starts to illustrate a different part of Taiwanese business, that franchise stores don't need to follow the "rules" of the franchiser. Recently to drum up business this store has been going around and putting coupons into local mailboxes. the coupon is attached to a flyer that talks about recent deals at the stores and the location at all these stores. However you will see that only the old store is doing the recent deals, while only the coupons work at this new store, even though they clearly say for both "at all locations."
I know this is similar to the states, and i always remember ads saying "at participating locations" however even stores like that must adhere to certain standards and regulations to hold on to their store in that franchise, however in Taiwan while that may be true on paper it's not true in practice.
For awhile there were a few Subway sandwich shops that were running very fast and loose with the "rules" of a Subway franchise. So did they loose their stores? Nope, they just opened up the next day as Subber sandwhich shop. The exact same stores as before, just change of name. This is not an isolated event either, this has happened in many chain food restaurants, as well as supermarkets, electronics shops, and even English schools.
Because of this somehow legal ability to change like this, franchisers seem to let stores in Taiwan get away with a lot more. For example Subway stores got rid of the whole "buy X sandwiches, get one free" practice because it was too hard to regulate between stores. It seems these large franchises prefer giving up a little control, in exchange for still getting their cut, and having their name out there. It seems a deadly game though, because what is the line for having your name out there, but not having the control you want over what is done with it.
I also have heard that there is a way to completely buy out of a franchised store that you bought into and ran, so that you own the store completely and have a much higher level of freedom, yet can keep the name. However I am not exactly sure how this works. I also know of English schools that were retaken by the franchiser, because standards were not met, while I know English schools that do not follow the criteria, curriculum, material or anything of the franchise they bought into. However in these particular cases I know it's because there are schools run by the actual franchise, and then they sell their name to people who want to buy it an run their own school under that name and have complete autonomy.
Needless to say I do not have a firm grasp on how most of this works. I have been curious about all this though, and how it is legal, so much so to want to meet up with a lawyer who actually deals in this field and pick their brain about it. So if you ever see a picture of a "Subber" on this site, you'll know I finally got the real scoop behind how all this is possible.
