[One Thousand Characters a Day] Convenience Store Promoter's 'Accidental Convenience Store' <5>

Editor's NoteConvenience stores, like lighthouses, illuminate neighborhoods 24 hours a day, always standing in the same place. Under bright lights, shelves are neatly lined with products sorted by type, probably packed without any empty spaces. We call this scene ‘ordinary’ and take it for granted, but behind it lies the unseen effort of many people. The author, Cheolhyun Yoo, Senior Manager at BGF Retail, focuses on the passion of ordinary people who pedal the relay called ‘best effort’ to create this ‘ordinary.’ It is astonishing to realize that countless people in the world work hard to keep convenience stores running as naturally and inevitably as we breathe every day. Through his book, Senior Manager Yoo says, “I wanted to show readers more of the charm of convenience stores and convey pride to industry workers and stakeholders that ‘we are people who make the world better.’” Word count: 929.

The part-time worker wiped the child’s tears, handed over candy, and first comforted the frightened child. Then, pondering how to find the children’s home, the worker suddenly thought of the missing child reporting function at the register. This hidden feature of convenience stores is a child disappearance prevention system: by entering the lost child’s name, age, and simple physical description into the register, a report is immediately sent to the police agency and simultaneously shared in real time with all stores nationwide, informing which store is protecting the child.

As soon as the report was made, the police arrived quickly, followed by the children’s father rushing breathlessly into the store after hearing the news. The time the children were lost was only about 20 minutes. That time felt so long and dark that the father, seeing his children before him, let out a sigh of relief toward the sky with teary eyes, as if he had just survived a cliff fall. He held his children tightly in his arms and stood there for a while, unable to move.

(Omitted)

The children’s cleverness was also very endearing. Most lost children came into the convenience store on their own to ask for help. This shows how familiar and friendly convenience stores felt to them. A nearby place, a place everywhere, a place with lots of tasty things, a place with lights on even in the dark night, a place where any problem can be solved, and a place where it feels like mom is waiting for me. For children, convenience stores were such places. As cases of finding missing children increased one by one, families and schools began educating children that if they ever got lost, they should go to the nearest convenience store. It is very important to protect the golden time before a missing child case turns into a long-term disappearance, and for this, convenience stores have become both missing child shelters and reporting centers. Convenience stores outnumber public infrastructures like police stations, post offices, and community centers nationwide and are open 24/7, making it no exaggeration to call them lighthouses that brighten our neighborhoods.

－Cheolhyun Yoo, Accidental Convenience Store, Dolbegae, 17,500 KRW