TOKYO – With 55,000 locations, Japan’s “konbini” stores serve 1.5 billion people each month, HEFFX reports. Many Japanese now view convenience stores—most of which are open 24/7—as an essential part of daily life.

Competition has been heating up. Two of the largest chains, Family Mart and Uny Group, have announced a merger, which some insiders predict will give frontrunner 7-Eleven a run for market share. Nikkei MJ, a market newspaper, places the Japanese convenience store industry at $84 billion. The number of convenience stores jumped 5% in 2014 over 2013.

“In our 40 years of experience, we understand that our purpose must be to offer something new all the time,” said Minoru Matsumoto, a spokesman for 7-Eleven. “Every time we extend what’s on offer, we are creating new customers rather than taking away customers from somewhere else.”

The average convenience store sees about a thousand customers daily, with the average Japanese dropping by a konbini around 11 times per month, according to the Japan Franchise Association (JFA). With the longer Japanese work day, being open 24 hours a day has been a key to the success of convenience stores, especially with their array of services (photocopying, faxing, bill payment, ticket booking and government certificates), goods (hygiene items, face masks, phone chargers, umbrellas and batteries) and food (drinks, snacks and prepared food to go).

“We apply a strategy of domination,” said Matsumoto. “Even if we have a 7-Eleven on a crossroad, a second is entirely justified as we might be missing out on customers on the other side of the road.”