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TOKYO --Convenience store chain operator FamilyMart Co. said Tuesday it will start offering fresh perishable food such as meat and fish at its stores in Japan's metropolitan areas, reported Kyodo News International .

FamilyMart wants to respond to a demand by

workers in their 30's for perishables at convenience stores, especially among workers in their 30s, Junji Ueda, president of FamilyMart, told a news conference.

The company will start pushing the initial phase of the perishables business in 400 of its outlets in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in the latter half of its 2006 business year, it said in the report.

The company will seek to bolster the number of outlets offering such perishables, which will also include vegetables and fruit, to 1,000 by the end of the 2007 business year, according to Kyodo News International .

Many of the firm's rivals in the convenience store industry have already started pushing the perishables business, FamilyMart officials noted in the report.

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