7-Eleven

For other uses, see 7-Eleven (disambiguation).

7-Eleven, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail (convenience stores)
Founded	1927 (1927)
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas
Number of locations	53,000
Key people	Joseph DePinto, CEO
Products	Slurpee beverage Big Gulp beverage Cup Other products include: coffee, sandwiches, prepared foods, gasoline, dairy products, various beverages
Revenue	$84.8 billion (Estimated) (2009)
Number of employees	45,000 (2010 NA)
Parent	Seven & I Holdings Co. Ltd.
Website	7-eleven.com 7andi.com sej.co.jp

7-Eleven or 7-11 is an international chain of convenience stores that operates primarily as a franchise.

7-Eleven Inc. is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Its parent company, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd., is located in Tokyo, Japan. Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd. is held by the Seven & I Holdings Co. Ltd. holding company.

§Etymology

The company's first outlets were named "Tote'm Stores", because customers "toted" away their purchases. Some stores featured genuine Alaskan totem poles in front. In 1946, the name Tote'm was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new, extended hours which were from 7:00am to 11:00pm, seven days a week. The corporate name of the company was changed from "The Southland Corporation" to 7-Eleven Inc. in 1999.

§History

A variation of the 7-Eleven logo with a lighter shade of green.

In 1927, Southland Ice Company employee John Jefferson Green began selling milk, eggs, and bread from the improvised ice house storefronts in Dallas, Texas, with permission from one of Southland's founding directors, Joe C. Thompson Sr. Although small grocery stores and general merchandisers were available, Thompson theorized that selling products such as bread and milk in convenience stores would reduce the need for customers to travel long distances for basic items. He eventually bought the Southland Ice Company and turned it into Southland Corporation, which oversaw several locations in the Dallas area.

In 1928, a manager procured a totem pole from Alaska and placed it in front of his store. Due to the positive effect on the overall attention generated by this, additional poles were placed at each location and the stores began operating under the name "Tote'm Stores". In that same year, many locations also began selling gasoline. Although the Great Depression led the company to declare bankruptcy in 1931, it still managed to continue operations.

In 1946, in an effort to continue the company's post-war recovery, the name of the franchise was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new hours of operation, which were unprecedented at the time. By 1952, 7-Eleven had opened 100 stores. In 1962, 7-Eleven first experimented with a 24-hour schedule in Austin, Texas, after an Austin store stayed open all night to satisfy customer demand. By 1963, 24-hour stores were established in Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the late 1980s, The Southland Corporation was threatened by a corporate takeover, prompting the Thompson family to take steps to convert the company into a private model by buying out public shareholders in a tender offer. In 1987, John Philp Thompson, the Chairman and CEO of 7-Eleven, completed a $5.2 billion management buyout of the company. The buyout suffered from the effects of the 1987 stock market crash and after failing initially to raise high yield debt financing, the company was required to offer a portion of stock as an inducement to invest in the company's bonds.

Operating in this period with exceptionally high interest costs, the private company now encountered financial difficulties with the high debt load. As part of the required restructuring, it sold various divisions such as the ice division and Chief Auto Parts in 1990 to General Electric, and later purchased by AutoZone. In 1998, the company was saved from bankruptcy by the Japanese Corporation Ito-Yokado. This downsizing also resulted in numerous metropolitan areas losing 7-Eleven stores to rival convenience store operators.

The Japanese company gained a controlling share of 7-Eleven in 1991 during the Japanese asset bubble of the early 1990s. Ito-Yokado formed Seven & I Holdings Co. and 7-Eleven became its subsidiary in 2005. In 2007, Seven & I Holdings announced that it would be expanding its American operations, with an additional 1,000 7-Eleven stores in the United States.

Seven & I was the fifth largest retailer in the world in 2013, with 35,000 stores in approximately 100 different countries.

§Other products

7-Eleven offers several brands of food and concepts, including Movie Quik, an in-store video-rental service.

Since 2005, the company has offered a prepaid phone service where a cellphone can be purchased directly from a 7-Eleven store in the U.S. or Canada and activated on the spot.

§Global

7-Eleven stores worldwide

§Asia

§China

7-Eleven in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

7-Eleven opened its first store in China's Guangdong Province in 1992 and later expanded to Beijing in 2004, Chengdu and Shanghai in 2011, Qingdao in 2012, and Chongqing in 2013. In China's 7-Eleven stores where Slurpees are offered, the Chinese name 思乐冰 (sīlèbīng) is used. They also offer a wide array of warm food, including traditional items like steamed buns, and stores in Chengdu offer a full variety of onigiri (饭团). Beverages, alcohol, candy, periodicals, and other convenience items are available as well. The majority of these stores are open for 24 hours a day.

§Hong Kong

7-Eleven in Shek Tong Tsui, Hong Kong

7-Eleven has operated in Hong Kong since 1981 under the ownership of Dairy Farm. With most locations being in urbanised areas, approximately 40 percent are franchised stores. In September 2004, Dairy Farm acquired Daily Stop, a convenience-store chain located mainly in the territory's MTR stations, and converted them to 7-Eleven stores. As of 2009, Hong Kong has 950 7-Eleven stores and has the second-highest density of 7-Eleven stores after Macau, with one outlet per 1.16 square kilometres (0.45 sq mi).

§Macau

7-Eleven entered the Macau market in 2005 under the ownership of Dairy Farm, the same conglomeration group operating Hong Kong's 7-Eleven. With only 25.9 square kilometres, Macau has 45 stores, making it a single market that has the highest density of 7-Eleven stores, with one store per 0.65 kilometres.

§Indonesia

In April 1991, 7-Eleven announced plans to expand its business in Indonesia through a master franchise agreement with Modern Sevel Indonesia. Modern Sevel Indonesia's initial plans were to focus on opening stores in Jakarta, targeting densely populated commercial and business areas. Other major cities, such as Bandung, Semarang, and Surabaya have been identified as expansion opportunities. There are 128 7-Eleven stores in Indonesia as of 2013.

The Indonesian government stated in May 2010 that it will monitor 7-Eleven expansion, as 7-Eleven is licensed as a convenience store instead of a mini-market. Indonesian law limits mini-market ownership to local companies. On 2015, Media Nusantara Citra Group, the southeast Asia's largest and most integrated media group, will acquiring 100% stake of PT Modern Sevel Indonesia from Modern Group, and change its company name to PT MNC Convenience Store Indonesia.

§Japan

Japan's first 7-Eleven store in Kōtō, Tokyo opened in May 1974

Japan has more 7-Eleven locations than anywhere else in the world, where they often bear the title of its current holding company "Seven & I Holdings". Of the 54,210 stores around the globe, 17,009 stores (31 percent of global stores) are located in Japan, with 2,246 stores in Tokyo alone. On September 1, 2005, Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd., a new holding company, became the parent company of 7-Eleven, Ito Yokado, and Denny's Japan.

The aesthetics of the store are somewhat different from that of 7-Eleven stores in other countries as the stores offer a wider selection of products and services. Following the example of other convenience stores in Japan, 7-Eleven has solar panels and LEDs installed in about 1,400 of its stores.

§Malaysia

A 7-Eleven store in George Town, Malaysia

Malaysian 7-Eleven stores are owned by 7-Eleven Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., which now operates 1,472 stores nationwide (as of October 2013). 7-Eleven in Malaysia was incorporated on June 4, 1984, by the Berjaya Group Berhad. The first 7-Eleven store was opened in October 1984, in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

§Philippines

7-Eleven in Angeles City, Philippines

In the Philippines, 7-Eleven is run by the Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC). Its first store, located in Quezon City, opened in 1984. In 2000, President Chain Store Corporation (PCSC) of Taiwan, also a licensee of 7-Eleven, purchased the majority shares of PSC and thus formed a strategic alliance for the convenience store industry within the area.

§Singapore

A 7-Eleven outlet in Singapore

In Singapore, 7-Eleven forms the largest chain of convenience stores island-wide. There are currently 560 7-Eleven stores scattered throughout the country. Stores in Singapore are operated by Dairy Farm International Holdings, franchised under a licensing agreement with 7-Eleven Incorporated, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, in the United States.

The first 7-Eleven stores were opened in 1983 with a franchise license under the Jardine Matheson Group. The license was then acquired by Cold Storage Singapore, a subsidiary of the Dairy Farm Group, in 1989.

7-Eleven stores in Singapore operate 24 hours a day, with the exception of stores in Biopolis, hospitals, MRT Stations, some shopping centres, Raffles Institution (Junior College), ITE College West, Singapore Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, and Nanyang Technological University, which have shorter operating hours.

§South Korea

7-Eleven store at Godeok Station in Seoul

7-Eleven has a major presence in the South Korean convenience store market, where it competes with Ministop, GS25 (formerly LG25), FamilyMart, and independent competitors. There are 7,064 7-Eleven stores in South Korea; with only Japan, the United States, and Thailand hosting more stores. The first 7-Eleven store in South Korea opened in 1989 in Songpa-gu in Seoul with a franchise license under the Lotte Group. In January 2010, Lotte Group acquired the Buy the Way convenience store chain and rebranded its 1,000 stores under the 7-Eleven brand.

§Taiwan

Two 7-Eleven stores at the same intersection in Xindian District, New Taipei City, Taiwan

In Taiwan, 7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain and is owned by President Chain Store Corporation under Uni-President Enterprises Corporation. The first store opened in 1979 and the 5,000th store was opened in July 2014. Taiwan has the world's fifth-largest number of 7-Eleven convenience stores after Japan, the United States, Thailand and South Korea.

§Thailand

The first store opened in 1989 on Patpong Road, Bangkok. The franchise in Thailand is the CP ALL Public Company Limited, which in turn grants franchises to operators. There are 7,816 7-Eleven stores in Thailand as of 2013, with approximately 50% located in Bangkok. Thailand has the 3rd largest number of 7-Eleven stores after Japan and the United States.

The company plans to spend five billion Thai baht to expand its business. Two billion will be used to open 500 new outlets, one billion to renovate existing stores, and the rest to develop a new distribution centre in the East.

§United Arab Emirates

Seven & I Holdings announced in June 2014 that they had agreed a contract with Seven Emirates Investment LLC to open the first Middle Eastern 7-Eleven in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the summer of 2015. The company also said that they had plans to open about 100 stores in the country by the end of 2017.

§Europe

The first European 7-Eleven store was opened in Stockholm, Sweden in 1978. 7-Eleven was available in Spain until 2000 with many stores inside Repsol petrol stations, as well as some other petrol-stations across the country. 7-Eleven stores are now solely located in the Scandinavian region of Europe.

The owner of the master franchise for 7-Eleven in Scandinavia is Reitan Servicehandel, an arm of the Norwegian retail group, Reitan Group. After Reitangruppen bought the filling station chain, HydroTexaco (now YX Energy), in Norway and Sweden in 2006, it announced that several of the stores at the petrol stations would be rebranded as 7-Elevens and that the petrol would be supplied by Shell. Other stores remain under the YX brand.

§Denmark

7-Eleven in Strøget, Copenhagen

The first 7-Eleven store in Denmark was opened at Østerbro in Copenhagen on September 14, 1993. There are currently 196 stores, mostly in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense, including 8 stores at Copenhagen Central Station. In Denmark, 7-Eleven has an agreement with Shell, with a nationwide network of Shell/7-Eleven service stations, and an agreement with DSB to have 7-Eleven stores at most S-train stations.

§Norway

7-Eleven in Bergen, Norway

The first 7-Eleven store in Norway was opened at Grünerløkka in Oslo on September 13, 1986. As of January 2012, there are 162 7-Eleven stores in Norway, more than 50% located in Oslo. Norway has the northernmost 7-Eleven in the world, situated in Tromsø. On a per-capita basis, Norway has one 7–Eleven store for every 47,000 Norwegians, compared to Canada, which has one for every 74,000 Canadians.

§Sweden

7-Eleven at Mårtenstorget in Lund, Sweden

Reitan Servicehandel Sverige has held the license in Sweden since December 1997. In the mid-1990s period, 7-Eleven in Sweden received adverse publicity due to the unfavourable labour contracts offered by its then-licensee, Small Shops, an American-based company, resulting in many stores being sold and closed down. For a time, there were only 7-Elevens in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

7-Eleven returned to the south of Sweden in 2001, when a convenience store opened in Lund. Later in the 2000s, the Swedish 7-Eleven chain was involved in controversy when the Swedish TV channel TV3 exposed widespread fraud on the part of Reitan Servicehandel in its management of the 7-Eleven franchise, which Reitan Servicehandel eventually admitted to on its website.

§North America

§Canada

A 7-Eleven Store with gas station in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

The first 7-Eleven store to open in Canada was in Calgary, Alberta, on June 29, 1969. There are 484 7-Eleven stores in Canada as of 2013. Winnipeg, Manitoba, has the world's largest number of Slurpee consumers, with an estimated 1,500,000 slurpees sold since the first 7-Eleven opened on March 21, 1970. All 7-Eleven locations in Canada are corporate operated.

A limited number of 7-Eleven locations feature gas stations from Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, or Esso. In November 2005, 7-Eleven started offering the Speak Out Wireless cellphone service in Canada. 7-Eleven locations also featured CIBC ATMs—in June 2012, these machines were replaced with ATMs operated by Scotiabank. 7-Eleven abandoned the Ottawa, Ontario, market in December 2009 after selling all of the six outlets to Quickie Convenience Stores, a regional chain. Following concerns over the fate of Speak Out Wireless customers, Quickie offered to assume existing SpeakOut customers and phones into its Good2Go cellphone program. 7-Eleven is similarly absent from the Quebec market due to its saturation by chains like Alimentation Couche-Tard, Boni-soir as well as independent dépanneurs.

§Mexico

In Mexico, the first 7-Eleven store opened in 1971 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in association with Grupo Chapa (now Iconn) and 7-Eleven, Inc. under the name Super 7. In 1995, Super 7 was renamed to 7-Eleven, which has 1,552 stores in several areas of the country. When stores are located within classically designed buildings (such as in Centro Histórico buildings) or important landmarks, the storefront logo is displayed in monochrome with gold or silver lettering. The main competitors in Mexico are OXXO (Femsa), Super City (Soriana), Farmacias Guadalajara and other local competitors.

§United States

A 7-Eleven store cobranded with Gulf Oil for gasoline sales in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania

Supermarket News ranked 7-Eleven's North American operations No. 11 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers," based on the 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of US$15.0 billion. Based on the 2005 revenue, 7-Eleven is the twenty-fourth largest retailer in the United States. As of 2013, 8,144 7-Eleven franchised units exist across the United States. Franchise fees range between US$10,000 - $1,000,000 and the ongoing royalty rate varies. 7-Eleven America has its headquarters in the One Arts Plaza building in Downtown Dallas, Texas.

7-Eleven is moving toward franchising most of its remaining corporate locations inside the United States. The 7-Eleven franchise system splits the gross profits in an arrangement that is around 50/50, between the company and the individual franchisee. The initial 7-Eleven franchise term is 15 years. The franchise fee and other upfront fees collected by 7-Eleven from a newly approved franchisee, in addition to ongoing 50:50 sharing of profits, is not transferable to another incoming franchisee in the same store, for the unexpired portion, if any, of the current 15 year contract. For example, if one pays the full franchise fee for 15 years and leaves the store after one year for any reason, they stand to lose the franchise fee for the remaining 14 years of their term.

§Fuel

Sign on a 7-Eleven filling station pump

In the United States, many 7-Eleven locations previously had filling stations with gasoline distributed by Citgo, which in 1983 was purchased by Southland Corporation (50% of Citgo was subsequently sold in 1986 to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., with the remaining 50% acquired in 1990). Although Citgo was the predominant partner of 7-Eleven, other oil companies are also co-branded with 7-Eleven, including Fina, Exxon, Gulf, Marathon, BP, Sunoco, Shell, Chevron (some former TETCO convenience stores were co-branded with Chevron, Valero and Texaco prior to the 7-Eleven purchase in late 2012CE), and Pennzoil. Alon USA is the largest 7-Eleven licensee in North America.

On September 27, 2006, 7-Eleven announced the impending cessation of its 20-year contract with Citgo and that the contract would not be renewed.

7-Eleven signed an agreement with ExxonMobil in December 2010 for the acquisition of 183 sites in Florida. This was followed by the acquisition of 51 ExxonMobil sites in North Texas in August 2011.

§Oceania

§Australia

The first 7-Eleven in Australia opened on August 24, 1977, in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh. The majority of stores are located in metropolitan areas, particularly in central business district areas. Stores in suburban areas often operate as petrol stations and most are owned and operated as franchises, with a central administration.

7-Eleven stores in Australia sell a wide range of items, including daily newspapers, drinks, confectionery, and snack foods. They also sell gift cards, including three types of pre-paid VISA cards. The chain has also partnered with BankWest, resulting in the placement of BankWest ATMs in their stores nationwide.

On November 7 of each year, one small cup of Slurpee is given free of charge to each customer to promote the annual event, Seven Eleven Day. November is the 11th month, which makes it "7/11" in accordance with the Australian date format.

In April 2014, 7-Eleven announced plans to start operating stores in Western Australia, with 11 stores planned to operate within the first year and a total of 75 stores established within five years. The first store was expected to open on October 30, 2014 in the city of Fremantle.

§In popular culture

In a July 2007 promotional event, 11 U.S. 7-Elevens were temporarily transformed into Kwik-E-Mart, like this Seattle, Washington store.

• 7-Eleven is parodied in the Futurama television series, as a convenience store called 7¹¹.
• 7-Eleven is also parodied in the Grand Theft Auto series of video games as a chain of convenience stores called 24/7, and similarly in Need For Speed: Most Wanted as "24-Seven".
• 7-Eleven is parodied in Beavis and Butt-head as a convenience store called the Maxi Mart.
• 7-Eleven was licensed to appear in Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
• 7-Eleven is mentioned in the songs "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming" from Green Day's 2004 album American Idiot, referring to the practice of loitering in front of convenience stores by disaffected youth.
• 7-Eleven is used in the 2013 movie Escape from Planet Earth
• In the Back to the Future trilogy, a man asks Marty McFly where he "learned to shoot like that", Marty tells the man that he learned to shoot whilst playing a Wild Gunman shooting game at 7-Eleven.
• 7-Eleven is mentioned in the U2 song Stay (Faraway, So Close!) from their 1993CE album Zooropa.
• 7-Eleven is mentioned it the Billy Idol song Rebel Yell from his 1983 album of the same name.
• 7-Eleven is parodied in the games Rebuild, Rebuild 2, and Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville as 8-Twelve Mart. They don't serve much purpose in the game besides to get food and supplies if any are in the store. However, they can be rebuilt to be something more useful such as an apartment, a bar, or a school.
• 7-Eleven is mentioned in the Ugly Kid Joe song "C.U.S.T" from their 1995 album Menace to Sobriety.
• 7-Eleven is mentioned in the Clash song The Magnificent Seven from their 1980 album Sandinista!.
• 7-Eleven is frequently mentioned in Lana Del Rey's songs, notably 'Diet Mountain Dew', where she sings "Baby's stopping at 7/11; There in his white Pontiac Heaven", from her sophomore album Born to Die. She also sings about the convenience store in the unreleased song 'Motel 6' in the line "Maybe we can go down to 7-11; Drive down the drag in your Pontiac heaven".
• 7/11.

7-Eleven is mentioned in the song "Story of my life" by the band Social Distortion, "And I went down my old neighborhood The faces have all changed there's no one left to talk to And the pool hall I loved as a kid Is now a Seven Eleven"

§See also

• List of convenience stores

§External links

• Official website
• 7-Eleven global sites index
• 7-Eleven at the Wayback Machine (archived January 29, 1998)